Total Eclipse of the Heart
by QueenAly300
Summary: [Bella/Tanya] Edward leaving made Bella feel like life wasn't worth living. On the day she decides to end it all another coven of vampires happen to be in town and save her. Turns out she was meant for another gold eyed vampire.
1. Chapter 1

Bella POV

I don't know why I did it. Why I came back here of all places. There was nothing for me here. There was no one here. Yet this place brought me peace. It was a fitting place for the end. The house where I felt truly alive would be the house I die in.

I stood outside of the house that brought back so many memories, both good and bad. The overgrown weeds were the only sign that the family that used to live here was actually gone. The rest of the house looked the same as it had on my birthday.

I made my way through the abandoned house. Despite being vacant for months there wasn't much dust on the furniture as one would expect. It looked exactly as it had on my birthday. The only difference was the glass from the table had been cleaned up along with all the blood, my blood.

The path to _his_ room was familiar, something I had done so many times all those months ago. The many caps from different high schools still hung on the wall. A private joke that only I would understand. There were no pictures on the wall, no sign of life.

When I got to his room I hesitated. This was it. This is where I was going to do it. That way if they ever came back he would forever remember what he did to me and the pain he caused. They would be in pain as their throats burned from the scent of my blood.

I pulled the blade out of my pocket. It belonged to Charlie. I took it from his toolbox more than a month ago. The many cuts on my arms had helped ease the pain of losing my soulmate. But it came to the point where the cuts were no longer working. I needed more.

After taking a deep breath I pushed open the door to _his_ room. Tears fell as I walked into the room. It smelled like him, like the forest. I wasn't prepared. It was still as intoxicating now as it had been when he was here.

Everything in the room was exactly the same as I remembered. It was as if he didn't pack, or even come to his room, before they left. Maybe he didn't. It didn't matter anymore.

I sat on the expensive leather couch. I had thought about this moment for a few weeks now. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't go on pretending everything was okay. Pretending everyday wasn't a battle for me to get out of bed. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to live anymore, not even for Charlie.

I picked this location for one simple reason. If they ever came back to Forks, I wanted them to be forever haunted by my death. It was what they deserved after they abandoned me and made me feel like I was worthless.

The familiar smell of metallic filled my scenes as I dragged the blade down my arm. I stared at the cut, watching the blood flow from the wound. It was deep enough for me to bleed out, at least that was my hope. If not I would do it again and again until I got it right.

I watched the blood drip on the couch and on the floor. I smiled. Everything was going according to plan. I closed my eyes and waited for death to come.

"Tanya, do something," a musical voice said. It was definitely a female but not a voice I recognized.

I groaned as I slowly regained consciousness. I was aware of my surroundings, sort of. I wasn't able to open my eyes. Was I dead? I wasn't sure. I didn't even know how much time had passed.

There was no way that this was Heaven. _He _would be here if it was, not a voice I didn't recognize.

"We have to change her," another female voice said.

"N-n-no," I stuttered out. The last thing I wanted was to become a vampire. To forever be stuck in my pain. To never die, when right now that is what I wanted the most.

Tears fell from my cheeks as I realized my attempt had failed. I was still alive. There was no regret for my decision to end my life, like people usually felt when they attempted and failed to commit suicide. No, there was no regret, only pain and anger that I failed.

"Change her," the same female insisted.

"No," a third female said firmly. "She doesn't want to be changed and I won't force it on her. Carmen, find a first aid kit."

I felt cold, firm pressure on my forearm. She was trying to stop the bleeding. "Please… l-let me d-die," I choke out. She adjusted her position so my head was in her lap, one hand still pressed on the wound.

"I'm sorry Miláčik," the woman said, running her free hand through my hair. I didn't recognize the language that she spoke. "I cannot let you die. But I also cannot change you, not right now."

"Here Tanya," a man said. I felt something warm and soft cover my freezing cold body. A blanket I realized.

The other woman must have returned as I heard Tanya digging through what I assumed was a first aid kit. "Someone get me thread and a needle," she requested tossing the kit aside. I guess it didn't have what she wanted.

"You're going to stitch her up yourself," the first woman exclaimed.

"Yes Kate, I am," Tanya said. "Now you can either hold the skin together so I can work or get out."

The woman muttered something under her breath that I didn't catch. I didn't hear any footsteps so I assumed this Kate person was the one now holding the wound on my arm together. "Sorry Bella, this will hurt," Tanya said sadly. I didn't have time to ponder how she knew my name.

I didn't flinch when I felt the needle dig into my skin. A year ago I would have passed out at the thought of getting stitches. Now it didn't bother me in the slightest.

The room was silent as Tanya stitched my arm back together. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own breathing. A sound that frustrated me. I wasn't supposed to be breathing. I had planned for everything, except a vampire finding me.

"All done," Tanya announced.

I felt a cool hand on my forehead. "Can you open your eyes Bella?" Kate asked.

I opened my eyes a little but the light was a lot brighter than I remembered. "The light," I mumbled. It was much too bright. I didn't even remember turning the light on.

"Irina get the light," a male voice called.

The light dimmed and I opened my eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing I saw was the face of the most beautiful vampire I had ever seen. She was even better looking than _him. _Once I was able to pull my thoughts away from her beauty I realized she had gold eyes. Gold eyes that were now staring at me.

I tried to sit up but a different set of hand were pushing me back down. "Don't sit up," I recognized it as Kate's voice.

"Kate," I recognized the voice as Tanya's, but the face was foreign. It was the same face directly in front of me.

Kate immediately let go of me. "Sorry Tanya," Kate apologized. That was weird. What was Kate apologizing for?

"Here you go Bella." A glass was water was gently placed in my hand.

I took small sips of the water and it seemed to help. If nothing else it gave me something to do. "Bella," Tanya called softly getting my attention. I looked up. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. I didn't want to tell this… vampire how I felt, how I was angry she saved me when all I wanted to do was die. So I settled for the generic non-answer. "Fine."

"Tanya, perhaps we should introduce ourselves," a forth female said. How many vampires were there?

I took this moment to look around the room. My heart skipped a beat when I realized I was in a room with five vampires. To my relief they all had gold eyes. Light gold eyes to be exact. That was strange considering they were in a room with human blood. It was more blood than on my birthday and that caused six of the seven vampires to react.

"Right you are Carmen," Tanya agreed. "I'm Tanya, these are my sisters Kate and Irina," she pointed out the other two blondes, "and that woman is Carmen and her mate Eleazar. Irina's mate is currently outside. He thought it would be best to wait outside. He hasn't been on the animal diet as long as we have."

I stared at Tanya. Every so often I would glance at one of the other vampires. They were all staring at me, waiting for me to say something. "How do you know my name?" I asked. My first of many questions.

"Our… relatives, so to speak, told us about you," Irina answered. "We were fascinated by the human who could block Edward's ability."

I flinched. My nails dug into my hands and I could feel the familiar sting of an open wound. It wasn't enough to help ease the pain of my failure.

"Bella easy," Tanya said grabbing my hands. I saw a couple small drops of blood on her hands. I looked at her face. There was no sign that she even noticed the blood. Her eyes were the same light gold color that they had been minutes before. "What's wrong?"

"I can't… their names, _his _name," I started. I couldn't get the words out. I couldn't tell them out much pain I felt when hearing the names of the people I thought were family.

Tanya seemed to understand what I was saying. She squeezed my hand. "I understand. We won't say their names." She looked at the others and they all nodded in agreement. "Where are they?"

"They left," I whispered.

Tanya growled. "Those fools," she muttered. I almost didn't hear her. I wasn't even sure I was supposed to hear her. "Why did they leave?"

I really didn't want to talk about it but if these vampires were anything like _them_ then they wouldn't let it go. "_He _didn't want me anymore," I choked out. "I wasn't good enough for him. They didn't even say goodbye," I finished with a whisper.

I don't know what I expected when I told them about what happened. A part of me thought they would realize _they _were right and leave as well. What I didn't expect was to hear five vampires growling, with Tanya being the loudest. Even stranger was the fact that they weren't growling at me.

"When I get ahold of him…" Tanya swore. Her eyes were pitch black.

"I'll help," Kate growled, eyes almost as dark as Tanya's. I saw a faint glow on her hands, almost like she got shocked by something.

"Now ladies," Eleazar said. "As much fun as it would be to rip off Ed…" my heart pounded in my chest, "that boy's arm. We need to be smart. We have Bella to worry about. They should be the least of our concerns right now."

Tanya's eyes faded back to gold. "You're right Eleazar," she said with a sigh. "We have much to do."

"Bella," Kate called, pulling my attention away from Tanya. "When was the last time you ate?"

I looked down and shrugged. I honestly had no idea. I had a few bites here and there when Charlie was around so he wouldn't worry about me even more. I was never hungry. The very thought of food made me feel sick.

Kate didn't question me any further so I assumed she understood. "Irina," Kate said.

Irina nodded. "We'll go get her food," Irina confirmed. She must have been talking about her and her mate, whoever he was. "She needs new clothes as well." She pointed to my clothes that were covered in blood.

"Follow her scent to her house and get her clothes," Tanya ordered. "We will clean up the blood here."

The others nodded in agreement. Carmen left the room. I wondered if they were having a quiet vampire conversation. I figured it was true as she returned moments later with a bucket and some towels.

"You don't have to do that," I protested when Carmen started scrubbing the wood floor.

I felt bad that Carmen was cleaning up my mess. On top of that I was sure the blood was not comfortable for her to be around. "Don't worry about it," Carmen said, pausing only to speak to me.

This wasn't right. _They _were supposed to find the blood. Now it was being washed away.

Kate handed something to Tanya. It looked like it was clothes. I hadn't even noticed Kate left the room. "You need to change as well. Go clean yourself up."

The two vampires stared at each other. Even though I couldn't hear anything I knew they were talking. After a minute they looked away. "Fine," Tanya agreed.

I blushed as Tanya ripped off her bloodstained shirt in front of me.

"Tanya," Eleazar sighed.

Tanya smirked and left the room.

Kate and Eleazar were like statues while we waited for Tanya to return. The only noise was the sound of Carmen scrubbing the floor.

Tanya returned less than five minutes later. Her bloody clothes were in her hand. "Kate, get a fire going. We are going to need to burn all of these clothes and that couch."

"I can get the blood off the couch," Carmen told her.

"Oh I know," Tanya said with a grin. I got the feeling she was doing it to punish him, not that it was much of a punishment when he could just buy a new one.

Kate grabbed Tanya's clothes, the stack of bloody towels and left the room.

"Perhaps we should move downstairs," Eleazar suggested.

Tanya nodded. Before I could say anything Tanya scooped me up into her arms. It was oddly comforting. "I can walk," I protested weakly. I wasn't even sure if what I said was true. I still felt weak and a little dizzy.

"I'm carrying you," Tanya said. I didn't even try to protest.

She walked slower than the average human. She did it for my benefit, which was strange. _He _never worried about my comfort.

She sat me down on the couch. Eleazar grabbed one of the blankets on the back of the chair and tossed it to Tanya. She carefully wrapped it around me and slid down on the floor by my head.

A few minutes later Carmen came downstairs with another handful of bloody towels. She walked right past the living room and out the front door to join Kate's impromptu bonfire.

"Blood is gone," Kate announced when she came back inside with Carmen right behind her. "Now if we could keep it that way." She glared at me as she spoke.

I winced. I was not a fan of angry vampires, especially when it was directed at me. It reminded me of James when he was hunting me. I shuddered at the thought.

"Kate," Tanya warned.

"Bella," Eleazar called getting my attention. I wondered if he played peacekeeper for the sisters often. "I have a theory I would like to test, if you are willing."

"Umm," I said, unsure how to respond.

"My theory is that you are a shield," Eleazar continued. "You've heard of vampires with abilities, yes?" I nodded. "My ability is to detect abilities. It is easier for vampires but with enough focus I can also detect abilities in humans. I've heard of your ability to block… someone's gift. I would like test this shield and see if I am right."

"Okay," I said slowly. "What exactly do I have to do?"

Eleazar nodded toward Kate. "Over my dead body," Tanya hissed. She moved into a crouch in front of me.

"Tanya, I would never intentionally put Bella in danger," Eleazar said patiently. "I am almost certain Kate's gift will have no effect on her."

"Kate's gift?" I questioned.

"I can project a painful, electric-like jolt throughout my body," Kate explained. "I can control the intensity, anything from a small shock to a taser to something much more lethal. It's much like Jane's ability." Kate turned to Eleazar. "You think she's a mental shield."

"Yes," Eleazar agreed. "Tanya."

Tanya turned to face me. "It's up to you."

"Okay." It wasn't like the idea of pain bothered me. I liked the thought, not that I would ever say anything.

Kate held out her hand. I grabbed it, without a second thought, and waited.

Nothing happened.

Disappointment washed over me as I realized her ability didn't work, which meant I wouldn't be feeling the physical pain that distracted me from the emotional pain.

"You're right Eleazar," Kate announced. "I used a strong enough voltage to stop a human heart," Tanya looked ready to rip Kate's head off, "after testing a lower voltage first."

"Excellent," Eleazar said with a smile. "It means the Volturi's abilities won't affect her as well."

I remembered a conversation I had on my birthday. One of the last conversations we had before they left.

"You know about the Volturi?" Tanya asked surprised. She must have realized I didn't look confused by Eleazar's words.

"Yes," I replied with a nod. "He told me about them. They're vampire royalty."

"Did he explain our laws?" Eleazar questioned.

I shook my head. "Humans aren't supposed to know about us," Carmen explained.

"In fact if the Volturi find out you know about us, both of our covens will be killed," Kate continued.

"Kate!" Tanya glared at her.

"She deserves the truth Tanya," Kate said, unaffected by her sister's tone. "They sure as hell didn't tell her anything."

"You are right Kate. I apologize."

"You're going to turn me the? Or kill me?" I added hopeful.

Tanya turned her glare on me. "No one is killing you, including yourself. You will eventually be turned but not until you're ready. The Volturi have no reason to suspect anything."

Irina returned with an assortment of food bags and a neatly folded pair of clothes. Behind her was a familiar vampire I thought I would never see again.

"No, no, no," I muttered. My body started to shake. If the was hear it meant Victoria was nearby. I didn't fear death. I feared what Victoria would do as I knew she wanted me to suffer.

"Hello Bella," Laurent greeted softly. He stayed behind Irina. He reminded me of a little kid hiding behind their mother.

I took a moment to study him. He looked different, happier. His eyes were not the crimson red that haunted my dreams. They were a strange, light amber color, like a mixture of red and gold.

"He won't hurt you," Tanya tried to assure me. "He knew you would be wary around him. It's why he stayed away until now."

"Bella," Laurent said. "I can never tell you how sorry I am for what happened with James. I hope someday I can earn your trust."

Irina didn't seem surprised by Laurent's declaration. She must have already known about James, at least some of it. Irina seemed much more focused on my clothes, which still had blood on them.

"Bella needs to get changed," Irina announced. "Then you need to eat."

Tanya got up and helped pull me off the couch. I was a little too shaky on my feet as Tanya wrapped an arm around my waist. "I'm going with you."

"Oh no," Irina disagreed, handing the bags of food to Carmen. "You are not going with Bella. I am." Tanya growled at her. "Calm down Tanya. She needs to get cleaned up. You know as well as I do that I am a better choice."

Irina wrapped an arm around my other side and took over Tanya's job of keeping me upright. She led me to the downstairs bathroom. Once inside she shut the door. She didn't bother locking it seeing as a lock wouldn't keep out a vampire.

My clothes were placed on the counter. Irina dug through the cabinets and found a washcloth. "Clothes Bella," Irina said.

Once I realized she wasn't going to turn around while I changed, I slowly stripped off my shift. I noticed her eyes darkened at the sight of my exposed body. Whether it was because of the many cuts littering my arms or the fact that my ribs were sticking out without my shirt.

"I'm sorry," I said trying to cover myself up. I didn't like the look she was giving me.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Irina said firmly. She grabbed the washcloth and washed away the blood that had soaked through my shirt. It wasn't much but it was something. "It's us that should be apologizing. Bella, if we would have known what our cousins were going to do to you."

"Cousins?" I questioned.

Irina shook her head. "That is a conversation for another day," she said.

"What happened with Tanya?" I asked since she was clearly not going to answer by other question.

"Out there?" I nodded. "Tanya needs some time to calm down. She's angry, not at you," she added quickly. "She's angry at them for what they did. She angry that they made you feel worthless and that death was your only option. When they left they took away your choice, your choice in love, life, happiness, all of it. You may not understand it or know it but Tanya, and the rest of us, will always respect for choices." She glanced at my arm. "However, we refuse to accept this choice. Death is never the answer."

I looked down. If she was trying to guilt me into staying alive it was only kind of working. "I still don't understand why you all care."

Irina sighed. "I know. You will find out eventually." That did not help in the slightest. "About Laurent…"

I wondered when she was going to bring him up. "What about him?" She dropped the washcloth in the sink and handed me a shirt. It was my favorite shirt, a University of Florida shirt Phil had sent me.

"I understand why you are afraid of him," Irina began. "But he would never hurt you. He told us about James, about how James was a tracker and had hunted you. He never wanted to be apart of that coven. He was only there out of convenience."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked as I took off my pants and tossed them aside. There wasn't a lot of blood on them but it was enough for the vampires to notice.

"Because I don't want you to stay afraid," Irina said. "You saw his eyes right?" I nodded. "You know it was his decision to wait outside, partly because of the blood but also because he didn't want to make you uncomfortable." She sat down on the edge of the bath tub.

She tossed me my favorite pair of grey sweats. I put them on as quickly as I could. "How do you all stand the blood?" I asked. "On my birthday I got a paper cut and all but one vampire had to leave the room. But there was a lot more blood this time, but not enough," I added under my breath. Irina apparently still heard because she glared at me. "Anyway, there was a lot more blood but none of you reacted."

Irina laughed. "Bella, my sisters and I are over a thousand years old," she informed me. My eyes widened at the news. "We have more control than most." I knew she meant the one vampire that was able to be in the room. "Carmen and Eleazar, they haven't been vampires as long but long enough. We all have near perfect control. Come, Carmen has food set up for you and Laurent has something he wishes to discuss."

Irina led me back to the living room. She didn't touch me this time but she was close enough in case I lost my balance.

I took a seat in the same spot I was before. Tanya seemed relieved when I came back. She took up her former spot.

The coffee table was covered in food. It seemed Irina went to every fast food place in Forks and ordered an assortment of foods including tacos, fried chicken, burgers and fries, salad and pizza. There was also some sodas, a chocolate shake, water and what looked like juice. That wasn't even close to all of it. I settled on the salad for now. Tanya was staring at me and she didn't look satisfied with just a salad so I grabbed a piece of chicken as well.

"What were you saying Laurent?" Eleazar asked once I was settled.

"While you were with Bella earlier I ran around the house," Laurent began. "While running I noticed a familiar scent but I couldn't quite place it. I followed it around town and to the high school and then back to a house that I realized was Bella's house. That's when I recognized the scent."

My stomach dropped. He didn't have to say it. I already knew. "Victoria."


	3. Chapter 3

Victoria. Victoria. Victoria.

Her name echoed throughout my mind. She was here and she had been to my house and my school. Who knows who she would hurt in order to get to me.

"Victoria," Tanya repeated. She turned to Laurent and it all clicked. "They left her alive," she shrieked.

I covered my eyes. Her growling and snarling was too loud. "Tanya," Eleazar shouted. "Enough." He nodded toward me.

One look at me and Tanya calmed down instantly. "I'm sorry Bella," Tanya murmured.

"Yes, Victoria was James' mate," Laurent confirmed. "I wasn't aware she was still alive until today. I had assumed they killed her when they killed James."

"They should have, the idiots," Kate growled.

"I don't understand." They forgot all about the lone human in the room. Why would they assume Victoria was dead? I could have told them she was still alive.

"Eleazar," Tanya looked at him and he nodded. "I supposed they never told you about mates." I shook my head. "When vampires mate it's for life. Not even death breaks the bond. Take Carmen and Eleazar for instance. Let's say I was a nomad and I killed Carmen. Eleazar would stop at nothing to avenge Carmen's death, until either I was dead, or he was dead."

"They know this," Eleazar continued. "They know how mated pairs are. Laurent…"

"Knowing Victoria she will target Bella," Laurent explained, guessing what Eleazar would say. "Especially if she knows there are no vampires to protect her. Now that we are here, she may be a little more hesitant."

"What are you thinking Laurent?" Irina asked. I guess I wasn't the only one that suspected he was hiding something.

He looked at me and sighed. "I know how she is. Victoria has never been… mentally stable. Then again neither was James. I'm certain she planned on killing Bella to make him suffer, and then killing him. I wouldn't be surprised if she planned on killing the whole family. Not that she would ever get the chance."

"Does she have any gifts?" Eleazar asked curious.

Laurent shrugged. "Not that I am aware of, however, her ability to evade other vampires was too good."

"Enhanced self-preservation," Eleazar said thoughtfully. "That could be an issue."

"We will deal with her if she returns," Tanya said firmly.

"Why?" I whispered. Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. "Why do you care? Why are you guys even here?"

Everyone looked to Tanya. Was she the leader? Like the doctor? It would explain why they seemed to go to her to answer questions.

Tanya nodded. Another silent vampire conversation. "Alice," Tanya said. I winced but Tanya ignored it. "A few days ago she called me. She didn't tell me that they had left Forks. I suppose I should have known. She called me and told me I needed to go to Forks. She told me you were going to kill yourself and I needed to get here as soon as possible to stop you. She gave me the date, time and location."

So Alice, I mentally winced, had seen my decision to die and instead of coming here to help me herself she sent other vampires. Did she see me suffer the entire time they were gone? Did she just watch as I sliced my arms open?

Hearing that she cared enough to send someone to save me did not make me feel better. In fact, it made me feel worse. It meant she knew what I was going through and she still chose to stay away. She left me to suffer.

"Bella," Tanya said touching my arm. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head. I was anything but alright. "Why did she bother to tell you about me? Why not let me die? It's not like she cared."

"Bella," Tanya said. She looked horrified by what I said. Or she knew what I said was true. "Alice loves you. She may have left but I'm sure she had a good reason."

I don't know who she was trying to convince, me or her. Either way it didn't work. I was certain Alice didn't give a damn about me. None of them did.

Kate checked her phone. "Tanya, we need to get Bella home. Bella's been gone for hours. Her father will start to worry."

Charlie. I had forgotten about him. My stomach dropped as I looked at my arms covered in cuts and my bandaged left arm. He was going to see them. I didn't want Charlie to worry about me although he had every right to be worried.

Laurent seemed to sense my worry. He struggled off his jacket, leaving his chest bare, and handed it to me. "Here, at least until you get settled at home."

I took the offered jacket and put it on. It smelled like him but I couldn't describe what that smell was. They all smelled the same but at the same time different.

Tanya did not look happy that I was wearing Laurent's jacket. I was about to take it off and hand it back but she smiled and hugged me. "Let's get you home."

"Do you have a car?" I asked.

"No, not yet," Tanya answered. "I will have to carry you while we run." The thought made me sick. Running with him had always made me nauseous. "Are you ready?"

I nodded and Tanya lifted me off the ground and into her arms. She tucked my head into her shoulder.

I could feel the wind as we ran to my house. Even though I could feel us running it didn't bother me. I didn't feel the usual nausea that came with running. It was probably because my eyes were covered. Normally I watched the trees go by when we ran. This was better.

I didn't move my head until the running stopped. When I pulled away from Tanya I saw that we were at the edge of the woods, behind my house.

"Why did we stop here?" I asked confused.

"I wanted to talk to you before you go inside," she informed me. "Your dad's not here so we have a little time."

I wasn't sure what time it was, but I figured if he wasn't home then he was still at work. "What about?"

"We will be taking turns watching over you from here," Tanya began. "Unless you would rather us come inside?"

I shook my head. It would be easier to plan without vampires hovering over me. "You guys don't have to watch me."

"Yes we do," Tanya disagreed. "We all want to. Plus, thanks to our cousins, there is a vampire after you. It is our job to fix the mess they made."

"I don't get it," I said to myself. Of course they heard me. I could tell by looking at them that they wanted to ask questions but for whatever reason they didn't.

"Laurent and Irina will be taking the first watch," Tanya continued. "Kate and I will be by tonight when you go to bed. If you need us just call. We can hear you. You have school tomorrow right?"

It took me a minute to remember it was Sunday. "Yes I do," I said.

Tanya looked to her family. "We will hunt while you are at school." The others nodded in agreement. "But we will be close by if you need us. We will also need to go shopping so we can get settled." Kate and Irina looked way too happy about that.

"You're staying?" I figured they would go back to… wherever they were from, now that they knew I was okay. Or after Victoria was dealt with.

"Of course we are," Tanya said. "We will be staying in our cousins house."

"Tanya already plans on getting rid of all of their stuff," Kate added with a grin.

"Not all of it," Tanya said laughing. "That TV is rather nice."

I had no idea how I felt about them moving into that house. I had a feeling I would be spending a lot of time with Tanya and her family. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was spending time with them in that house. Too many memories there, both good and bad.

Tanya walked me to the front door of my house. I pulled my keys from my pocket and unlocked the door. "My truck." How I forgot I drove my truck to the house was beyond me.

Tanya grabbed the keys from my hand. "Kate will bring your truck back," she promised me. She took the key to my truck off the key ring and tossed it behind her. I didn't bother looking to see if Kate was there to catch it.

I walked into the house with Tanya right behind me. "What are you doing?" I didn't expect her to come in.

"I want to make sure no one was in here," she told me.

She followed me to my room. I don't know what exactly she was looking for. Nothing looked out of place.

"Did you find anything?" I asked when I got to my room.

Tanya shook her head. "It was only yours and your father's scent," she said. She looked relieved.

"How can you tell?" I was curious. I heard about scents a lot from vampire's, but they never explained.

Tanya sat down on my bed and patted the spot beside her. I sat next to her. My eagerness to hear her explanation outweighed my confusion on why she was still here.

"Everyone, human and vampire, has a unique scent. Family members are a lot closer in scent than strangers. Yours is a freesia and vanilla combination, quite lovely. Your father's scent is a mixture of vanilla and charcoal. Similar to yours but not the same. I imagine your mother's scent would be more floral."

I nodded in understanding. It was interesting, hearing about how different vampires are. They looked normal, other than the beauty, eyes and skin, but they were nowhere near normal.

We sat on my bed silently for several minutes. "Kate's almost here," Tanya said tilting her head.

Sure enough I could hear the sound of my truck. It was a lot louder than I remembered. "Can you thank her for me?"

"She can hear you," Tanya laughed.

"Thanks Kate," I called. A beep from my horn was her response.

"It's time for me to go," Tanya said sadly. "Your father is almost home." She stood up and kissed my check. "Take care of yourself Bella. I will be nearby if you need me."

Tanya disappeared out my window in the blink of an eye.

Minutes later I heard the police cruiser pull into the driveway. I grabbed a sweater to cover my arms and made my way downstairs to greet him. "Hi Dad," I greeted.

"Bella," he said surprised.

"How was work?" I asked. It wasn't that I cared how work was going. But I felt I owed it to Charlie to at least attempt to have a conversation with him.

"Fine. What's wrong?" Charlie asked eyeing me. I didn't blame him for being suspicious. I hadn't been much of a daughter, or a person, for the last six months.

I decided to spend some more time with him before I died. That way he would have some good memories of me.

"Nothing's wrong," I lied. A lot was wrong. Vampires were back and pretending they care, and my desire to die were among them. "Do you want me to make dinner?"

Charlie stared at me surprised. In the last six months I had only cooked dinner a handful of times. One of those times I had burned my hand so bad I had to go to the hospital. It was when I learned physical pain was the key to distracting myself from him. The rest of the time Charlie either got dinner from the diner, ordered pizza, or tried and failed to cook for himself. He would also go to La Push at times and eat there.

"Are you sure?" he asked once he recovered from the surprise.

I nodded. "I'm sure."

He pulled out his wallet and handed me his credit card. "Get what you need. Don't worry about the cost." He was so relieved I was 'back to normal' that he didn't care about money.

I could feel eyes on me as I drove to the store. I didn't know for sure who it was but I assumed it was Tanya, making sure I didn't do anything stupid.

When I got to the store I had no idea what I wanted to make. Spaghetti had always been my go-to dinner choice. But it seemed to simple for tonight. So I settled on Charlie's favorite meal, steak and potatoes, and a vegetable I hadn't decided on.

I had no idea what food we had at home. I figured it wasn't much of anything. I decoded to do regular grocery shopping while I was here.

I wandered the aisles grabbing what I thought we would need for the week. I grabbed a pack of ribeye steaks, Charlie's favorite, as well as a large potato and a small one. I also grabbed some chicken and ground beef for other meals. I found asparagus on sale and figured that would make a good vegetable for tonight.

It took close to an hour to finish up my shopping. By the time I was through the checkout I spent well over $100. Thankfully being in a small town meant everyone knew each other, so the cashier didn't even blink when I handed her Charlie's credit card.

Before I could turn my truck off Charlie was standing outside, ready to help bring groceries in. "I bought some extra stuff for the week," I warned him. I didn't want him to see the receipt and get mad.

"That's fine," he said, not at all bothered by the number of bags.

We silently unloaded my truck. I knew Charlie was watching me but he never said anything. Once the bags were brought inside, I handed Charlie his card and the receipt. He tucked both into his wallet and grabbed a beer. He looked like he wanted to sit in the kitchen and watch me. After a minute he settled on going to the living room. Within minutes I could hear some type of game was on the TV.

I forgot how much I liked cooking. It was an easy way to distract me from everything that had happened. I got the potatoes ready first as they would take the longest to cook. Once they were in the oven, I prepared the steaks with some salt and pepper.

I waited until there was about five minutes left on the timer. I grilled the asparagus. Once the timer went off I pulled the potatoes out and then grilled the steaks.

For the first time in months I thought about nothing, except the food, while I cooked. It was relaxing and for a few moments I felt none of my urges.

I fixed Charlie's plate, and my much smaller plate, and took the both to the living room.

An hour later I managed to finish my plate. Charlie cleaned up the kitchen before I finished eating. I think even he was surprised when he came back and found my plate empty.

I spent another hour sitting with him, pretending to watch the game, before I went to bed. It was still early but I was tired.

Not long after I closed my eyes the nightmares began.


	4. Chapter 4

_Trigger warnings for this chapter._

_Thanks for reading and reviewing!_

* * *

"_My family and I are leaving."_

"_You're not good for me."_

"_It will be as if I never existed."_

I shot up in my bed. His words still echoed in my head, as if he had just said them. My heart was pounding in my chest but I hadn't made any noise, otherwise Charlie would be in here trying to comfort me.

I checked the clock.

3am.

I sighed. I wasn't going back to bed now. I never did after a nightmare.

I climbed out of bed as quietly as I could. I went to my closet and dug through as quickly and as quietly as possible. After a minute I found exactly what I was looking for, an extra blade from Charlie's toolbox.w

I went back to the bed and took a deep breath. His words were still fresh in my mind. Each one was like a dagger to my heart.

I held the blade to my arm, my right arm this time as my left was still bandaged up. I started with a small nick, enough to draw blood but not enough to do any real harm.

I sighed in relief. It was working. I pressed the blade to my arm and pressed down hard and pulled.

Not even a second later there was a gust of wind and the blade was gone. Only my first, small cut was visible on my skin. The other was just a dot of blood. I looked up and found Tanya twirling the blade in her hand. Small amounts of my blood coated her fingers. Either the blood didn't bother her or she did a good job hiding it. Although now that I think about it she had been around my blood, a lot of my blood, yesterday and didn't react.

"I would say I was surprised but we both know that is a lie," Tanya commented, still twirling the blade. "I knew yesterday wasn't the first or last time. I had hoped you wouldn't…" She squeezed her hand and the blade turned to dust. She dropped the dust on the floor.

That blade had been my only solace. The only thing that kept me going and now it was gone, dust on my floor, and I was furious. I opened my mouth to yell and scream at Tanya. I didn't care if Charlie heard me and found her in my room. I didn't care if he found out about me, or about vampires. All that mattered was Tanya ruined everything.

Before I could say anything, I was outside in a small clearing a few miles away from the house. Tanya must have known I was angry and moved me away so we wouldn't wake Charlie.

"How dare you," I screamed at her. I closed the distance between us and began banging on her chest with my fists. Small drops of blood flew onto her clothes. "You come here pretending you care about me and you take away the one thing that helped me. It's because of your kind that I'm even like this."

I went on and on until my voice was hoarse. Tanya did nothing but stand there and wait until I was done. Even though I was angry, I was also surprised she stood there and took it. I couldn't think of a single vampire that would allow a human to hit and scream at them, not that the hitting did anything to her.

"Are you done?" she asked raising an eyebrow at me.

I nodded. My will to fight was gone and I was exhausted. My legs gave out but I never hit the ground. Tanya caught me and we both dropped to the ground.

"I never pretended to care," she continued, cradling me against her chest. "None of us did. That blade, no matter how much you think it helps, it doesn't. This is not the answer Bella. This will never be the answer. I'm sorry you believe I took away your only choice. But I will never be sorry for saving you, for keeping you alive. Hate me if you want, at least you will be alive to do it."

For the first time in months I cried. I broke down and cried in Tanya's arms. I wasn't entirely sure why I was crying. Whether it was for my lost love, or me.

Tanya said nothing. She simply rubbed my back and rocked me back and forth. When I was done crying I pulled away and found myself back in my bed, with Tanya laying next to me.

"How? When?"

"Once you were calm I brought you back," Tanya explained.

"What time is it?" I asked. I was exhausted.

"Just after four in the morning." I groaned. I had to get up in less than two hours for school. I felt like I hadn't slept at all. "Tell your dad you don't feel well," she suggested. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"Yes," I mumbled sleepily. "What about Charlie though?"

"I'll hide if he comes and checks on you," she promised. "Sleep Bella." She kissed my forehead and I went back to sleep.

"Bella," Charlie called softly.

I rolled over and slowly opened my eyes. "Yeah?"

"It's after six," he told me. "You're going to be late for school." He studied me for a minute. "I'll call the school and tell them you're out sick today. Get some rest." I must have looked terrible for him to say that.

I rolled over and closed my eyes again.

When I finally woke up it was after ten in the morning. I don't remember the last time I slept that late. I rolled over. My bed was empty. It took me a minute to realize that Tanya had been in my bed earlier in the morning and now she wasn't.

"Morning Bella," Irina called coming into my room with a tray of pancakes, eggs and bacon as well as orange juice and milk. It was enough to feed me and Charlie.

"Good morning," I greeted staring at the tray. Since when did they know how to cook?

Irina sat the tray down in front of me. "I looked it up," she said answering my unspoken question.

"You didn't have to do this," I said grabbing the fork and knife. I was surprised they even let me use a knife after last night… and the day before.

"I know," Irina said sitting in the rocking chair by my bed. "You need to eat though. You are far too skinny."

"Where is Tanya?" I questioned in between mouthfuls of pancakes. For a vampire that has probably never cooked before it was pretty good.

"She needed to hunt and run a couple errands," Irina replied.

"Oh," I said dropping my silverware. I wasn't hungry now.

"Bella," Irina growled, her eyes darkened slightly. "Eat. Tanya will be back when she's finished."

I started eating again. I had a bad feeling Irina would force feed me if I didn't eat. Irina was considerate enough to not watch me eat. I appreciated it. It always made me self-conscious to have vampires stare at me as I ate.

"What do you want to do today?" Irina asked. She grabbed one of my books, Wuthering Heights, and flipping through it.

I shrugged. I didn't have plans of any kind. I was actually supposed to be in school. Then again, I should be doing homework. I wasn't entirely sure what my grades were but I was sure I was failing most of my classes. "Homework," I answered.

Irina made a face. "That does not sound fun. We can help you with homework later. Hell, we could do the homework for you."

I shook my head. On the off chance I actually cared about my future I wanted to earn my grades. It wouldn't help me in the slightest if vampires were doing my schoolwork for me. "I'll do it."

Another gust of wind came and I knew Tanya was here. "Bella," she greeted cautiously.

"Tanya, I'm sorry about—" I began.

Tanya held up her hand. "Don't apologize." She pulled something from her pocket and sat it on the bed beside me. It was a simple flip phone. "Don't say anything," she said before I could protest. "The phone has all of our numbers programmed into it. If you need something, if you need anything, call one of us. We will be here."

I took the phone though I had no intention of ever using it. I tucked it away in my nightstand. Charlie would never look there so there was no chance of the phone being discovered. The last thing I wanted to do was explain to Charlie why some strangers bought me a phone.

"Are you two done being awkward around each other?" Kate had arrived. I looked up and she was perched on my desk, like she had been there the whole time.

"We talked about this Kate," Tanya said with a glare.

"Yes, I know. Don't going into Bella's room without permission," Kate recited. She nodded toward Irina. "She didn't get permission and technically neither did you."

She had a point. Vampires kept showing up uninvited.

Tanya muttered something that sounded a lot like technicality. "So what are we doing today?" Tanya asked echoing Irina's earlier question.

I shrugged. I didn't want to do anything. I would be perfectly content to stay here and do nothing. I would be even happier if they left.

"Why don't I go rent some movies?" Kate suggested. "I can buy a bunch of crappy human food for Bella to snack on."

Tanya looked at me. I nodded. It wouldn't give me time to myself but it was as close as I could get with their now constant presence. "Go Kate."

An hour later we were gathered in the living room. Kate had gone overboard on the movies and the snacks. She bought enough food for a movie theatre. I flipped through the stack of movies. None of them were rented. Kate actually bought them all and they were all classic movies.

"Psycho, really Kate?" Irina asked picking up the movie.

"It's a classic," Kate protested.

"Are any of these from this century?" Tanya questioned.

Kate shrugged. "There might be one or two. I didn't really pay attention."

I grabbed the movie from Irina. "Let's watch this," I suggested, tossing it to Kate so she could put it into the DVD player.

"Are you sure?" Tanya asked.

"Yes," I replied. "It's not like its actually scary. Maybe when it came out it was but not now."

That's what we did for the rest of the day. We watched movies. I ate the junk food provided by Kate.

The sound of a car door pulled me away from my thoughts. "Charlie," I realized. I glanced at the clock. 5:13pm.

The three vampires had the living room cleaned up before I could register what was going on. "If you need us just call," Tanya said. She kissed my forehead and disappeared.

I stood in the living room, stunned by what just happened. "Bella," Charlie called.

"In the living room," I called back.

Charlie walked in to the living room with two boxes of pizza and a two liter of root beer. "I brought dinner, one supreme and one pepperoni," he said raising the boxes.

"I'll get the plates," I said. "Do you want a beer?"

"Please," he said.

I returned minutes later with two plates, napkins, a cup with ice for me and a cold beer for Charlie. Once we were settled in the living room Charlie turned on the game.  
"How are you feeling Bella?" Charlie asked.

"Okay," I answered honestly, peeling off the pepperoni's from my pizza.

"Tomorrow night I'm heading to La Push to have dinner with Billy and Jacob," Charlie began. "I want you to come. I know Jacob misses you."

"I don't know Dad," I said. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was with going to La Push, and being around Jacob. He was always so… happy and I didn't want to bring him down.

"Bella, you need to get out and stop moping around," Charlie said firmly.

"Fine," I agreed. The only reason I agreed was because I know Charlie would try to force me to go. Although I was eighteen and he couldn't really force me to do anything. It was easier to say yes and continue the illusion that I was okay.

"Good," Charlie said with a smile. "I talked to some of your teachers."

I winced. I knew my grades were bad but I was hoping Charlie didn't know. "Yeah…"

"You need to get those grades up," Charlie continued. "It's important for college. Even if you decide to take a year off before going to college, grades in high school still matter."

"I know Dad," I told him. "I'll work on it."

"I'll clean up the kitchen," he said once we were done eating. "Go get started on your make up work for today."

I trekked up the stairs to my room. I was surprised, and mildly disappointed, to find it empty. I half-expected Tanya to be laying on my bed when I returned.

I shut the door behind me and sighed in relief. It felt good to have some time to myself.

The stock of homework Charlie brought home was sitting on my desk. I stared at it for several minutes before sighing and sitting down to get started.

Homework was the furthest thing from my mind. More than twenty minutes had passed and I was still staring at it. Nothing made sense. It made me realize I would need their help after all.

My fingers lightly traced my newest cut. I wouldn't be about to cut anymore with vampires watching my every move. In fact I would never be able to do anything involving blood which meant I would need more creative ways to kill myself.

I pushed the work, and my thoughts, aside. I wasn't sure who was outside tonight but I knew how to get their attention. "I could use some help in here," I whispered, knowing whoever was out there would come help. Well I knew Tanya, Kate and Irina would come. The others I wasn't so sure about.

The one who did show up was the last person I expected. Laurent.

"Bella," he greeted cautiously. He stood by my window, like he was ready to flee at any moment.

I stared at him. If I was being honest I was scared of him. He was a part of the coven that tried to kill me, that is still trying to kill me.

"I can leave," he offered. "Irina was going to come but I volunteered. I can go get her."

I shook my head. Whether it was because I hoped he would rip my throat out or because I thought he could help me I wasn't sure. "You can stay."

I moved to my bed so Laurent could have the chair. My homework was now spread across my bed, separated by subject.

"Let's start with history," Laurent suggested.

"Because you lived through it?" I mumbled under my breath.

To my surprise he laughed. "Exactly."

I grabbed my Government homework. It was just a fill in the blank, short answer and one essay question. I handed it to Laurent. He flipped through it faster than I could blink.

"Why don't you answer what you can while I mark pages in your book?" he suggested.

We worked silently. He flipped through my textbook and marked sections with my small post its. Most of the questions were pretty easy. There were a few I needed to skip but overall I made short work of the worksheet.

Once Laurent was done with the Government book he handed it to me and moved on to the next subject. We worked for several hours. The only thing spoken during that time was him recommending that I take notes on the topics he marked.

After another hour Laurent dropped the book he was holding and cocked his head to the side. I was starting the recognize the signs of vampires communicating. Someone outside was talking to him.

"Bella, you should probably go to bed," he said. He didn't wait for a response he immediately started cleaning up my bed.

I glanced at the clock. It was after midnight. By the time I registered how late it was Laurent had already cleaned everything up. "Good night Bella," he said before leaving my room.


	5. Chapter 5

I have come to the conclusion that I hate school.

For the first time in about six months I cared about my grades. I put effort into my schoolwork and participated in class. All my teachers did was stare at me like I had grown an extra head. My history work was the only work I had finished the night before. Turns about it wasn't due today but instead due Friday. Either way I had turned it in and Mr. Miller simply stared at me in surprise.

The students weren't much better. They all watched me like I was an exhibit in the zoo.

Worst of all were my friends, assuming I could call them that. I avoided them for the last six months and eventually they stopped trying to include me in activities. I would still get the occasional invitation from Angela but she never really expected much.

All day they stared at me. Angela looked happy. Mike and the guys looked excited and Lauren and Jessica looked… disappointed? I couldn't explain their reactions.

By the time I got to my truck I was ready to drop out of school. Anything to avoid dealing with people. I slid into the driver's seat. I checked the rearview mirror to make sure no one was behind me and nearly jumped out of my skin.

Tanya was in the back seat of my truck, checking her already perfect nails, acting as if she had been there the whole time. "Bella," she greeted.

"You're going to give me a heart attack," I scolded. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying not to rip out of the throats of teenagers," she replied. She dropped her hand in her lap. "Those friends of yours… Are they friends?" She shook her head. "They had a bet to see how long you would remain in this… state. Jessica guessed a year. The other one, Lauren," her lip curled in anger, "assumed longer. They were both so disappointed when they saw you."

"Oh," I said. I started my truck and drove away. "Were you here all day?"

"Most of the day," Tanya admitted. "I got bored of the listening to high schoolers complaining about how much their lives suck." I snorted. She was right. "What's La Push?"

I glanced at her through my rearview mirror. She didn't look mad or upset, just curious. "It's the Reservation, along the beach. Charlie is close to one of the Elders, Billy Black."

"Interesting," Tanya muttered. Judging by her tone it wasn't interesting in the slightest.

"Are you going to tell me I can't go?" I was torn between being hopeful and angry. I really didn't want to go but at the same time I didn't want Tanya, or any of them, telling me what to do.

"Not at all," Tanya said. She seemed… almost insulted at the thought. "I would simply advise you to take the phone in your nightstand, in case you want to leave early."

I stared at her stunned. As much as I loved _them _they were all highly possessive, especially _him. _They also wanted me close by, and always wanted me to do what they wanted, like the incident in Phoenix. I mentally shuddered at the thought.

I didn't know Tanya well but she acted similar to him in some aspects. But in others… she was completely different. She seemed more trusting, of me and of others around me.

"That's it?" I asked. Despite her actions it was still hard to believe she wasn't going to fight this. "I thought I was on suicide watch or something."

"Do you need to be on suicide watch?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. She leaned forward in her seat. "Given that you have attempted suicide twice in less than twenty-four hours, I suppose the answer should be yes. Yet here I am, trusting you not to kill yourself."

"You make it sound like I care," I retorted. "If dealing with me is such a hardship then you all should leave."

"Why is it you always try to get us to leave?" Tanya asked. I didn't understand what she was saying. "No that's not right. You expect us to leave you."

I pulled into my driveway and shut off the engine. I removed my seatbelt and was going to turn around to face her but before I could she magically appeared in the passenger seat. "Are you surprised?" I asked once I was facing her. "My experience with vampires isn't great. One hundred percent of the vampires I knew and loved had left me. It's only a matter of time before you all join them."

"I know you don't believe me," Tanya began. "We're not leaving Bella. We will never leave you and I will keep telling you that until you believe me."

I still didn't buy it. They would leave. It was only a matter of time. Even if I was struggling to get rid of them so I could have some time alone. I would let it go for now. I didn't have time to dwell on those thoughts. Charlie would be home soon so we could go La Push.

Tanya was out of the truck before me. She held my backpack with one finger. That was annoying. My backpack was packed full. I could barely carry it on my back and here she had to use no effort.

She walked me to the front door. I was starting to wonder if she planned on coming to La Push with me. "Have fun in La Push Bella," Tanya said.

I turned to open the front door. When I turned back Tanya was gone. I frowned. She had my backpack. I wanted to try and get some homework done before Charlie got home.

I didn't know exactly when he would be home. Usually if we went to La Push on a school night Charlie would get off early, around four, so we could go there for dinner.

The clock in the kitchen read 3:23pm. That was plenty of time to accomplish something, assuming Charlie was going to be home around four.

I trekked up the stairs. If I couldn't do tonight's homework, and the pile of extra credit teachers gave me so I could try and get my grades up, then I would work on the homework Charlie brought home the day before.

To my surprise my backpack was sitting on my bed. Next to it was a short note:

_Call me if you need anything._

It was her not so subtle reminder to take the cell phone she bought for me. I opened my nightstand and pulled out the small flip phone. I hadn't touched it since she gave it to me the day before. I was tempted to leave it in the drawer. Instead I tucked the phone into my pocket. I had no intention of using it but I took it anyway.

"Bella," Charlie called from downstairs. I glanced at the clock. It was now 4:12pm. I had spent almost an hour on homework and didn't even notice. "Bella, are you ready to go?"

"Coming Dad," I yelled back.

I closed my book and grabbed my jacket. Once I was sure Charlie wasn't going to see my arm's I ran downstairs to meet him. "Are you ready?" Charlie asked again.

"Yes," I responded. "Sorry I was in the middle of a math problem."

"Sorry I interrupted," Charlie said.

"It's fine," I told him. "I could use the break."

The drive to La Push was quiet. We took the cruiser since it was the only car Charlie had, other than my truck. I watched the trees fly by as we left Forks. I swear at one point I saw a flash of blonde hair but when I turned to check the blonde was gone.

Billy was waiting for us when we pulled into the driveway. Next to him was Jacob. Jacob looked… buff. He had grown several inches since I saw him last May. He seemed to have doubled in size as well. What was Billy feeding him?

"Charlie, Bella," Billy greeted warmly. "Good to see you guys."

"Bella," Jacob greeted. He stared at me with a strange look on his face. I couldn't tell what it was but I wasn't sure I liked it.

"Looking good Jacob," Charlie commented, oblivious to the looks Jacob was giving me and my obvious discomfort. "What's Billy been feeding you?"

Jacob shrugged. "Growth spurt," was his answer.

Charlie rolled Billy inside so they could watch the game. That left me and Jacob alone. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. "How have you been Jacob?" I asked.

"Fine," Jacob responded crossing his arms over his chest. "How did Charlie convince you to come?"

"He didn't convince me. He made me come," I said honestly. "Said I needed to get out of the house."

Jacob's face softened slightly. "He's right. You'll never get over that lee… your ex if you don't get out and meet new people."

"I don't want to meet new people," I said.

"Come on," Jacob said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the house. His hand was hot, hotter than anything I had ever felt. It wasn't normal… or human.

I pulled my hand away from him. I didn't like the heat. I preferred the cool skin of vampires. It was comforting. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to meet some new people," Jacob said. He stopped when he realized I wasn't following him. "Bella, come, please. These people, they are my friends, my family."

I looked at the house and then at Jacob. I walked toward him. At least with Jacob's friends it would be easier for me to hide away and pretend I wasn't there.

We walked along the dirt road, passed several houses. Eventually we walked up to a small cottage. It was a small but beautiful home. "When we go inside, don't stare okay?"

"Okay," I agreed. I didn't understand what he was talking about. Why would I stare? What would I stare at?

I figured it out when the door opened and a young woman came outside. She was carrying a basket full of muffins. One look at her face and I understood what Jacob meant. Along the right side of her face were three long gashes that travelled down her neck and to her arm. She looked like she was attacked by some kind of wild animal.

"Who is this Jacob?" the woman asked.

"Bella meet Emily Young. Emily this is Bella Swan," Jacob introduced.

"Nice to meet you Bella," Emily said. "Would you like a muffin? They're blueberry."

I stared at her, not because of the gashes along her body, but because she was so… friendly. I didn't know how to react to this. "Okay," I said taking one of the offered muffins. Once I grabbed one Jacob reached past me to get a muffin.

"Come inside Bella," Emily invited. "Sam's there and so is Jared."

I frowned. The name Sam was familiar. I know I've heard it before but I couldn't remember where I had heard it. "Sam," I repeated.

"Sam Uley, he's the one that found you," Jacob said answering my unspoken question. Now I remembered him, from the night in the woods, when _he _left. Images of Sam and a giant, black wolf flashed through my mind.

I followed Jacob and Emily inside the house. Sitting at the table was Sam and another guy, Jared I assumed. "Jacob," Sam said jumping to his feet. "What have you done?"

"Nothing," Jacob said crossing his arms over his chest. "She knows nothing."

"Outside," he snapped. Jacob followed Sam outside like a puppy that just got scolded. That left me alone with Emily and Jared.

"Don't worry about them," Jared said. "I'm Jared by the way."

"Bella," I muttered. "Do the guys in La Push not own any shirts?" I gestured to his bare chest.

Emily laughed. "I like her," she said. "Please have a seat Bella. Sam and Jacob may be a while."

"What are they doing?" I asked.

Emily looked at Jared. Jared shook his head. The movement was so small I didn't think I was supposed to see it. "I'm not sure."

"What did Jacob mean when he said I knew nothing?" I pressed.

"Bella, you should probably talk to Sam or Jacob," Jared answered. He sniffed the air. "Are the Cullens back?"

I flinched and Emily glared at Jared. "No," I mumbled. "Why?"

"No reason," Jared said grabbing another muffin. The boys in La Push were strange. I was starting to think there was more to them than meets the eye.

While Emily and Jared talked about… something, I slipped outside. I decided on a walk along the beach to clear my head. It was peaceful on the beach.

I heard a strange sound coming from the woods beside Sam's house. I ignored the noise, or at least I tried to. The noise was getting louder and louder. When it became impossible to ignore I moved toward it.

I peaked through the trees and found a small clearing with two huge wolves growling at each other. They were the size of bears, if not bigger. One was black and the other was a russet brown color. The russet wolf was slightly bigger than the black wolf.

I stared at the black wolf. There was something familiar about it. It turned and faced me. My eyes locked with the wolf and then it clicked.

Sam.

That wolf was Sam and the other wolf… it had to be Jacob. This was the secret the Sam though Jacob spilled. This was what Jacob insisted I knew nothing about. It was funny how in the end it was Sam that spilled the secret.

"Jacob, Sam?" The wolf I assumed was Jacob nodded and suddenly it was Jacob standing in front of me… naked.

I was surprisingly calm for someone that just found out boys can turn into wolves. Then again I spent so much time with vampires I shouldn't be surprised.

"Bella," Sam said once he was human again. He was naked as well.

Jacob grabbed his shorts and tossed a pair to Sam. They quickly put them on. "How did you find us?" Jacob asked.

"I went for a walk and heard some noises," I said with a shrug.

"Jared," Sam growled. He took off running toward his house.

"I don't understand," I said honestly. What on Earth had Jared done? Was he a wolf too?

"He was supposed to keep you busy," Jacob said taking a step toward me. I backed away and he looked angry. "Seriously? Am I not the right kind of monster for you?"

For the first time in a long time I was scared. He was shaking and his form started to blur. "I don't know what you're talking about," I whispered.

"You're lying," Jacob snapped. "I'm sorry I'm not one of your precious leeches."

Leeches? Did he mean vampires? I wanted to smack myself. Of course, he was talking about vampires. He was the one that told me about vampires in the first place.

"Jacob," Sam yelled jogging toward us. Jared was right behind him, with Emily a little way's back. "Stand down, now."

It was as if Sam expected Jacob to listen but it wasn't working. Jacob continued to shake. It took seconds for me to realize he was going to change into the wolf with me standing right there. Sam and Jared weren't going to get to us in time. I was going to die by Jacob's hands… well the wolf's hands… paws.

Jacob's body exploded and a wolf appeared in its place. I closed my eyes as his massive paws came flying toward me. They never made contact. I opened my eyes and found myself across the clearing, away from Jacob.

Tanya was crouched down in front of me.


	6. Chapter 6

Growls erupted from Tanya's small form. Her back was less than an inch from my body. Black eyes were locked on Jacob's form, ready to attack and defend if needed. The last time I had seen a vampire like this was when James tried to kill me. Somehow this was far more terrifying.

I grabbed a fistful of Tanya's shirt. It wasn't like I could stop her from attacking if she wanted to but it was reassuring.

"Vampire," Jared spat when he and Sam caught up to us. Sam held his hand up, stopping Jared from moving forward. "Sam, there's a vampire on our land. We have to kill…"

"Jacob almost killed Bella," Sam said glaring at Jared. "I will speak to the vampire and decide what needs to be done. But I am not condemning this vampire for doing what we should have done, protect humans."

He backed away from Jared and Emily. I turned away as he stripped off his shorts. "Bella," he called. I reluctantly turned to face him. I kept my eyes locked on his face. "Tell the vampire I mean no harm. This is the only way I can get to Jacob."

With those words he exploded into the black wolf. At the same time Jacob lunged for Tanya and I screamed. Jacob never made contact. Sam had jumped in and took the attack, throwing Jacob into a tree in the process.

Jacob got up and limped toward Sam. The two wolves circled each other. Once in a while one would take a step forward and then move back again. It seemed like they were talking to each other.

Tanya growled and bared her teeth anytime one of them got too close. "Leave Sam alone," I pleaded. Tanya turned slightly, so she could look at me but still keep an eye on the wolves. "He's trying to help."

Tanya gave a short nod and focused on Sam and Jacob again. Jacob had lunged for Sam. Sam moved out of the way. Jacob was flying toward Tanya and I. In the blink of an eye we were on the other side of the clearing and I was in Tanya's arms.

She repositioned us so, once again, she was in front of me, ready to defend.

The two wolves continued to fight. Every time it looked like Jacob was gaining the upper hand, Sam would knock him back down.

After what seemed like forever Sam had Jacob pinned down, teeth at his throat. "Don't hurt him," I whispered. I didn't expect Sam to hear me. It was entirely possible he didn't hear me. He did, however, release Jacob.

Jared jogged toward them with two pairs of shorts just as Sam and Jacob shifted back. Emily ran over to Sam's side and hugged him close. I was jealous of them, of their relationship. I thought I had that with _him _but I was wrong. Now I had no one.

I glanced at Jacob. He looked worn out but he didn't have any marks on him. He glared at me, or maybe he was glaring Tanya. It was hard to tell with Tanya so close to me.

"I need to speak to the vampire—"

"Tanya," I interrupted. I didn't like how he called her vampire. It was like he wasn't acknowledging he as a person.

Sam looked at me and nodded. "Tanya," he corrected. He looked at Tanya. "We need to talk, in private."

Jared and Jacob both started to protest but a glare from Sam silenced them.

"I'm not leaving Bella alone with him," Tanya snarled.

"Emily?" Sam called.

"Of course Sam," Emily said answering his unspoken question. "Bella and Emily will come with us."

"Sam, you trust this filthy leech around—" Jacob started angrily.

"We are in this mess because you almost killed Bella," Sam roared. I shrank into Tanya's side. She wrapped her arms around me but didn't seem concerned by his anger. "I trust her a hell of a lot more than I trust you right now. Go home Jacob and stay there." Jacob dropped his head and walked away. Sam turned his attention to Jared. "I need you to patrol with Paul and Embry." Jared nodded and took off running.

"Come, I'll make us something to eat," Emily said, leading us back to her house. She glanced at Tanya. "Sorry. I don't have anything for you."

"I'm fine," Tanya said dismissing her apology.

"Your eyes are black," Sam noted. "I thought they were only like that when you needed to feed."

"Not the only reason," Tanya disagreed. Sam looked genuinely curious. "Lust, anger, hunger all cause our eyes to be black. It will fade away and I will hunt later."

"What will you be hunting?" Sam questioned.

"Do you really think I would defend Bella if I was a human drinker?" Tanya countered. "Or that Bella would be comfortable around me?"

Sam held up his hands in surrender. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's… it's not easy being around a vampire. Every fiber of my being is telling me to kill you."

Tanya nodded. "I understand Sam. I have centuries more control than my cousins. Though I am not thrilled to be around you and your… pack, nor do I like Bella being around you all, I will not harm a member for your pack unless they attack first."

"Centuries?" I repeated. "How old are you?"

"Physically 22, in vampire years I'm over a thousand years old," Tanya answered. Sam's eyes widened in surprise. I was equally surprised. I knew she wasn't a new vampire but I never imagined she was that old.

Emily ushered us inside the house. We gathered around the small dining room table. Emily was in the kitchen cooking something. "Do you drink?" Sam asked Tanya.

"I do, although it has no affect on me," Tanya confirmed.

Sam got up and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. He poured two shots, one for him and one for Tanya. "Sorry Bella. I'm not taking you back to Charlie drunk. Maybe next time."

I shrugged. It didn't bother me in the slightest. I had never even tried alcohol before. They each took a shot of the whiskey. Sam winced at the taste but Tanya looked as if she was drinking water. "The taste doesn't bother you?" I asked her. Despite never drinking it before I knew it didn't taste good.

"No," she said shaking her head. "Centuries of practice. It's not a pleasant taste but its better than human food."

Sam took one more shot before getting to the point of this meeting. "I don't know if you are aware of this but we had… have a treaty with the Cullens." Tanya wrapped her arm around me. The pain was there but not as bad as it normally was.

"I heard about the treaty," Tanya said. "Alice told me." Alice. She had talked to Alice again. Was she regularly communicating with my former best friend? Why wasn't Alice trying to talk to me?

Sam furrowed his brow in confusion. "You knew about the treaty yet you still broke it?"

"The treaty was for my cousins. It technically didn't apply to me," she said with a shrug. "I stayed at the treaty line, until I heard what was happening. Then I acted."

Sam sighed. "You are correct. The treaty doesn't apply to you since you're not a Cullen. We normally don't let vampires on our land. If it was any other day you would have been killed on the spot. But these are extenuating circumstances."

"I understand," Tanya said with a nod. "Protecting Bella is my number one concern. I knew what I was risking when I came here to protect her."

"No," I whispered, horrified by what I was hearing. Was she really offering her life as payment for breaking the treaty?

"Relax Bella," Tanya said stroking my head. "He won't kill me. He wants something from me."

Emily placed a plate of pancakes, bacon and eggs in front of me and an even larger plate in front of Sam. I was too nervous to eat. The thought of Sam killing Tanya was too much.

"How many of you are there?" he asked. The thought of killing Tanya didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

"In my coven there's five including me," she answered.

"There is something you can do for me," Sam said setting down his fork. "None of us have killed a vampire before and there's a red-headed leech running around on our land. I want you to train us, teach us to kill the vampires threatening our tribe."

"Victoria," I breathed. They were trying to kill Victoria. The wolves, however many there were, were going to die.

"What do you know about Victoria?" Tanya asked, running her finger along the top of the shot glass. Just a bit more pressure and Tanya would shatter that glass. I can tell she's trying very hard not to do that.

"Next to nothing," Sam admitted. "Just that she has been running around in Forks and coming through our land. We can't catch her. No matter how close we get, she manages to slip away."

"That would be her gift," Tanya informed him. "You know vampires have gifts correct?" Sam nodded. "Victoria's is enhanced self-preservation. It will make catching her difficult, for both sides." Tanya sighed. "Very well. My family and I will teach you to fight."

"What do you want in return?" Sam asked suspicious.

"Nothing," Tanya replied leaning back in her seat. "Victoria is after Bella. I want Bella safe. With you and your wolves, plus my family, hunting her Bella will be safer."

"Very well," Sam said. He poured two more shots. "Here's to a truce."

They clinked their glasses and downed the shots. "Can I assume that I am forgiven for breaking your treaty?"

Yes, I silently begged Sam. "Technically you're not part of that treaty," he said echoing their previous words. "I wouldn't make a habit of coming here though."

I jumped when the phone rang. I had forgotten about the outside world. "Sam, it's Billy," Emily said handing the phone to Sam.

"Hello," Sam said. "Yeah Bella is here… We had an incident... Yeah with Jacob… He almost killed Bella… I'll talk to him later… I'm finishing up with the vampire… Don't give me that Billy. If not for this vampire Jacob would have killed Bella… Alright… Yeah… Bye."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Charlie's wondering where you were," Sam replied. "They ordered pizza and when Jacob showed up without you Charlie got worried. It seems Jacob filled Billy in on what happened but left out the part where he tried to kill you. Billy is not happy."

"I should go back," I said sadly. I would make rather stay with Sam and Emily… and Tanya.

"I'll walk you there," Sam offered, standing up.

Tanya kissed my cheek. "I need to hunt. I'll be by before you go to sleep," she told me. "Call me if you need me. Oh, and Sam," Sam looked at her, "if Jacob ever does something like that again I will kill him."

Sam nodded. "If he ever does something like that again he will be banished from the tribe and the pact," Sam informed her.

"Why?" I asked. Why punish him if it was an accident?

"Because, while he did lose control, he had a choice. He had time to run away before he hurt you. He could have avoided it but he let his anger take over," Sam explained. "Come on. Let's get you back to Billy's."

The walk back to Billy's was silent. Emily chose to stay home and finish cooking for the others. That left me and Sam to make the trip back to Billy's. "Thank you," I told him. Sam stared at me. "For not killing her for breaking the treaty."

"Anytime Bella," Sam said. "As far as vampires go, Tanya isn't… terrible." He acted like it pained him to make that confession.

"Bella," Charlie yelled coming outside to meet Sam and I.

"Hi Dad," I greeted. He didn't look mad. That was a good sign.

Charlie studied Sam, as if he was trying to figure out who he was. "Sam?" he questioned. Sam nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"I walked Bella here," Sam told him. "She had a fight with Jacob, so she hung out with me and Emily for a while. I hope she's not in trouble."

"No, of course not," Charlie said quickly. There was no doubt in my mind that he was happy I was making friends. "Billy ordered pizza. You should eat."

I shook my head. "Emily cooked while I was there," I said.

Charlie looked to Sam. Sam nodded. "Good, good," Charlie said. "Well we will be leaving soon. It was good to see you Sam."

"You too Charlie. I'll see you soon Bella," Sam said before jogging away.


	7. Chapter 7

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

I looked up from my make-up essay on Romeo and Juliet and found Tanya crouched at my open window. "Can I come in?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered. Charlie was asleep so there was no chance of him finding a random woman in my bedroom. "You don't have to ask. That's why the window was open."

Tanya sat down on my bed. "I will always ask first, or try to ask first. It's about respecting your privacy."

I pushed my work away and turned to face her. "_He _never did that," I whispered. "_He _used to watch me sleep, before I knew what he was. I used to think it was romantic—"

Her growling cut off my train of thought. "When I get ahold of him…" she snarled.

"You're not doing anything," I told her firmly. "He's not coming back, and for whatever reason you all are staying here."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine." I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was still imagining ways to kill, or harm him.

"Dd you tell the others about what happened in La Push?" I asked curious.

"I did," Tanya confirmed. "Irina and Kate yelled at me for my stupidity. Eleazar is curious about the wolves. Carmen and Laurent are glad we're okay. They've all agreed to help train the wolves, though none of them want to be around Jacob."

"I don't know what's wrong with him. I've never seen him like this." I thought back to the other times I had seen him. He didn't seem thrilled to be around _him _on prom night but he was never so hostile.

"I was watching Sam and Emily earlier and I believe the wolves have their own form of mating," Tanya began. "I think Jacob wanted you to be his mate."

"How do you know I'm not?" I asked. Her eyes darkened at the thought. I didn't want to be Jacob's mate. But I was curious how Tanya seemed to be sure I wasn't.

"He never would have put your life in danger like that," Tanya explained. "Judging by Emily's scars I believe Sam phased and hurt her but it was accidental. Jacob was intentional. I don't know how it is for them, but for us, we can't hurt our mates, ever. Not even accidentally."

I wanted to ask if that included abandoning someone in the woods but I didn't have the chance. Tanya cocked her head to the side. Her lip curled back and she was growling. She was off my bed and halfway through my window before it registered in my mind.

"What?"

"Victoria," Tanya spat. "Carmen and Eleazar are coming to stay with you. I'm shutting the window behind me, stay away from the window and don't open it until you see Carmen and Eleazar." Tanya didn't wait for me to respond. She was already done, window shut behind her.

I did what Tanya asked and stayed away from the window. I didn't know why it mattered. If Victoria wanted me then a closed window wouldn't stop her.

I grabbed my things from my desk and dumped them on my bed. I didn't make it halfway through a sentence when there was another tap on my window. I jumped, causing my book to fall to the floor with a soft thud. I glanced toward the window, my heart pounding in my chest.

Relief washed over me when I saw Carmen's face in the window. Carmen and Eleazar were here which meant I was safe, for now. I threw the window open. Carmen and Eleazar jumped in. Eleazar shut the window behind him.

"Bella," Carmen greeted warmly. She pulled me in for a hug. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged. "About as a good as someone can be when they have a psychotic vampire after them."

Eleazar chuckled. "Yes, you do seem to attract the worst sort of vampires."

"Are they going to be alright?" I whispered.

Carmen patted my arm. "They will be fine. Those three have more experience then the rest of us combined."

I frowned. "What are you hiding?"

Eleazar sat on my bed and patted the spot next to him. I sat down. "Victoria's gift is tricky. I don't think they will catch her. Even with help from the wolves I don't think we will catch her. We need to rethink our strategy."

"Bella," Carmen said getting my attention. "It's getting late." I checked the clock. It was after eleven. "Try to sleep. Do you want Tanya to come back when they're done?" I nodded. "Okay."

"Wake me up," I requested. I wanted to see for myself that she was okay.

Eleazar helped clean off my bed. He positioned himself near my window, so if anyone came by, he would know. Carmen took my rocking chair. She started humming an unfamiliar tune and I slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Keep your voice down," I heard Carmen say. "You will wake Bella."

"No, once again Tanya isn't using her fucking brain," Kate hissed. "I get your need to catch Victoria, I really do, but you're going to get yourself killed in the process."

"Are you done?" Tanya asked wearily. She sounded so drained. I didn't think that was possible for a vampire.

"You need to hunt," Irina reminded her. Irina sighed. Tanya must have said no. "Fine, we will bring you blood."

"She's going to need human blood," Eleazar inputted. "Or she will never heal."

Heal? Heal from what? "Tanya," I called trying to sit up.

"Bella." I was in her arms before I could lift my head.

"What happened?" I squinted at the blonde vampire holding me. She was in pain. I could see it in her eyes.

"She's an idiot," Kate huffed.

Tanya rolled her eyes. "Kate is just a little upset." Kate muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like understatement. "Can you give us a minute?" The others nodded and left, though Kate looked reluctant. "Go Kate."

"What happened?" I repeated.

"I caught up to Victoria," Tanya began. "I underestimated her gift. We fought. She won." She pulled back her shirt to reveal a bite mark on her collarbone. I unconsciously rubbed my arm, where my identical bite mark was. It looked strange on her perfect marble skin. It was leaking something, venom perhaps.

Tears formed in my eyes as I stared at the mark. This was not okay. Tanya was hurt because of me. Her perfect skin forever scarred because Victoria wanted me dead and because _they _wouldn't do what was necessary. The Cullens put my father in danger.

What if this wasn't it? What if something worse happened? What if next time Victoria managed to kill her? I can't handle that. I can't handle of any of this. It was too much. I couldn't lose her. I wouldn't survive that.

"Bella, breathe," Tanya said holding me closer to her.

"I can't… you… you could have died… my fault… you can't do that again," I cried.

"Oh Bella," Tanya said rocking me in her arms. "I'm going to be fine. Victoria got lucky. It won't happen again."

I shook my head. Just the thought of her being out there made me want to vomit. "Please don't go," I begged. "Stay with me. Don't go out there."

She kissed my forehead. "Okay," Tanya agreed. "Okay. If that's what you need, I will stay with you. Get some sleep Bella. I will be here in the morning." She sang to me in a language I didn't recognize until I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Kate, I swear to God if you wake Bella up, I will rip your arm off and beat you with it," Tanya hissed.

"Too late Tanya. She's awake," Irina said nodding in my direction.

"Leave Kate alone," I mumbled sleepily.

Kate looked smug. Tanya on the other hand looked grumpy. "Fine," she grumbled.

"What's going on?" I asked rubbing my eyes. According to the clock it was 5:30am. I groaned. There was no point in going back to sleep now.

Irina climbed onto the other side of my bed, leaving me in between Tanya and Irina. "We searched for Victoria but she's gone," Irina said sadly. "She headed east, toward Seattle."

"We should keep an eye on Seattle," Laurent suggested. "There's something about her heading to the city that concerns me."

Tanya nodded at Laurent's suggestion. "I agree. I will fill in Sam today. If Victoria is going to keep making these appearances, we will need to prepare the wolves as soon as possible."

I watched Tanya as she detailed their plan for the next few days. There was something off about her. I glanced at Irina. Her eyes were the light gold I was used to see. I glanced at Tanya again. "Your eyes," I blurted out. Tanya's eyes weren't red but they were definitely not gold.

"Human blood mixed with animal blood," Tanya explained. "Human blood was the best and quickest way for me to heal but I didn't want to freak you out with the red eyes."

I frowned. "If you need the blood…"

"I'm fine Bella," she promised. "It was mostly human blood."

"How… did you…?" I couldn't form the words.

"Blood bags Bella," Kate explained. "No humans were harmed in an attempt to heal my dumbass sister."

Tanya rolled her eyes at Kate. "Where did you get the blood bags?" I asked curious.

"Hospital," Carmen answered. "We… commandeered some yesterday. They're mostly your blood type. We wanted to be prepared, just in case. We're no Carlisle but between the six of us we have enough medical knowledge."

I yawned. "You should try to get some more sleep," Tanya suggested.

I shook my head. "I would have to get up soon anyway," I told her. "I still have school. Is Charlie awake?"

"He left about an hour ago," Eleazar answered. "He received a phone call, a disappearance of a local boy, Riley Biers."

I didn't recognize the name. "Laurent and Irina offered to keep an eye on him," Tanya continued. "We're not sure if it was a vampire that caused the disappearance."

"You think it might be Victoria?" I asked.

"We have no way of knowing for sure," Kate replied. "We're just being cautious. Tanya will meet with her new best friend later and see what they know. The rest of us will be watching you."

"You guys don't have to keep watching me," I protested. At this rate they were going to starve.

"You are a part of our family Bella. Get over it," Kate said.

With some effort I managed to climb over Tanya and out of my bed. I grabbed my clothes as quickly as I could. The thing I wanted was the vampires seeing my underwear. I took my time in the shower. I was up early enough so I didn't have to rush.

When I got back to my room I half-expected all the vampires to be there still. Instead it was just Tanya, lounging on my bed. It didn't look like she had moved. "Give me your arm," Tanya instructed, sitting up. I gave her my arm and she quickly rebandaged it. "It's looking better."

I pulled my arm away. I didn't like how she stared at the cut, like she was willing it to disappear. "Where is everyone?"

"Irina is making breakfast for you. Laurent is watching your father. The others went to hunt," Tanya answered.

"Is Kate still mad at you?" I wanted to know.

"Yes," Tanya said with a sigh. "It's more fear than anything. She's afraid I'm going to get myself killed."

"Sounds like Kate is right," I muttered under my breath.

"I'm not trying to get myself killed," Tanya said. "I'm trying to keep you alive."

"What's Sam going to do when he finds out you had human blood?" I asked nervously. I should have been disgusted or scared that Tanya had human blood. But I wasn't. I was happy that Tanya was okay.

"I really don't know," Tanya said honestly. "He seems to understand our nature, even if he doesn't like it. Oh, I almost forgot." Tanya walked over and grabbed something off my desk. "Laurent made you flashcards for government. He said you can't be mad because he isn't giving you the answers, just key points."

I took the flashcards from Tanya. They were well written. They had a lot of details but I could tell from the writing it wasn't copied from the book. "Will you thank him for me?"

"Of course Bella." She hugged me. "We should head downstairs. Irina is done with breakfast."

Tanya grabbed my bag and we headed downstairs. Irina had gone overboard as usual. She made French toast, fruit with granola and yogurt, eggs and bacon. There were even muffins and cinnamon rolls.

"I appreciate this but normally I just eat a Poptart," I told Irina.

Irina wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Even I know Poptarts are not good for you. Sit. Eat."

It's been a while since I was able to take my time and eat breakfast. "Where did you get all this food?" I asked once I finished with the French toast.

"Carmen and I went shopping yesterday," Irina answered. "I brought the food over. You didn't eat much last night." It was true. I was too worried about what was going to happen between Sam and Tanya to worry about eating. "So I figured you could use a good breakfast."

Irina cleaned up the kitchen while I ate. Dishes were done and leftovers were refrigerated before I was halfway done with my plate. I half-expected Irina to pack my lunch. She didn't and I was grateful for that. I was eighteen. I didn't need the mother hen vampire packing my lunch. I checked the clock. I needed to start making my way to school.

Tanya kissed my cheek. "Have a good day."

"Will you text me, or call me, and let me know the meeting with Sam went okay?" I requested.

"Sure," Tanya agreed.

The teachers continued to be surprised by my participation in school. It wasn't as bad as yesterday but it was still frustrating. My classmates were just as bad, if not worse. I was tempted to sic Tanya on them. Or worse… Kate. I dismissed the idea rather quickly. No one deserved that.

It was 7th period English, my last class for the day. We were currently working on a book project. Each of us picked a book and did a report, and either a poster, PowerPoint or another visual representation of the book. I kind of cheated and picked _Wuthering Heights, _a book I've read so many times before. This class period was dedicated to reading the book if you hadn't finished it or starting your outline. The book I didn't need to reread and I finished the outline in the first ten minutes of class. That gave me time to work on my current list of strange things Tanya has said and done.

Things had been strange since Tanya and her family came to Forks. She risked certain death by coming to La Push and she didn't seem bothered by it. Kate was right. Tanya was acting like an idiot. What I couldn't figure out was why she was doing it. Why was she risking her life for me?

There was also her insane need to keep me alive. Even _he _didn't work so hard to keep me alive. It was kind of funny watch a vampire trying to keep a human alive when a year ago vampires were doing their best to kill me.

I continued to jot down my list. Whenever Ms. Matthews came by I would cover the list and pretend I was working on the essay. My outline was on display so she knew I had completed that and that I wasn't slacking.

By the time class was over my list and about a quarter of my essay was done. "Good job Bella," Ms. Matthews praised as I made my way to the door. "I look forward to seeing the rest of your project."

"Thanks Ms. Matthews," I said blushing at the praise.

"Have a good day Bella," Ms. Matthews said. "And Bella," she added before I could leave. I turned to face her. "Welcome back."

This time when I drove home my truck was empty. I made sure to check the backseat before I got in. Not that it would have mattered much. They could easily get in the back after I checked it. I checked my phone. There was no missed calls or texts. That meant either Tanya hadn't seen Sam yet, or it didn't go well.

Instead of going home I headed to the Cullen house. It looked the same as it always did. It looked like one of them had cleaned up the front yard. The weeds were gone and new flowers were planted. It looked nice.

There were several cars in the driveway that I didn't recognize. I assumed it was from the errands that Tanya mentioned they had done while I was at school. It was hard to tell who the cars belonged to. It made it hard for me to figure out if Tanya was here.

"Bella," Kate greeted coming out of the house.

"Kate," I said. Kate immediately pulled in for a hug. I shouldn't be surprised by how affectionate they were. Yet I was because the Cullens were never like this. They were always so scared of touching me, like I would break. It took me a minute to realize I had referred to them as the Cullens and I didn't feel any pain from it.

"What brings you here?" Kate asked once she let me go.

"Tanya didn't call me," I said waving the phone at her.

"She had to go hunting," Kate explained. "She didn't drink enough human blood to recover from the bite as quickly as she could have."

"If she needed the human blood she should have drank it," I muttered.

"She didn't want to scare you," Kate said softly. She led me toward the house. "You don't have great experiences with human drinkers. Tanya didn't want you to see her as one of them."

I shook my head. "I'm not afraid of her," I said. "I could never be afraid of her. Kate." I sat on the couch while Kate sat across from me on the armchair. "Why are you so angry at her?"

Kate sighed. "Tanya is being reckless," she began. "I love my sister and I'm terrified she's going to get herself killed. She's not thinking."

I looked down. "I thought it was because you didn't like her risking her life for me," I whispered.

Kate got up and sat down beside me. She pulled me into her arms. "Bella, that is not true," Kate said kissing my forehead. "I don't like Tanya risking her life at all. But I can't deny that I wouldn't do the same thing. You're family Bella. We all love you."

"Did Tanya talk to Sam yet?" I questioned.

"She did," Kate confirmed. "He wasn't thrilled about the human blood. We had to show him our stash of blood bags so he knew we weren't killing humans." Kate didn't seem happy about that.

"You don't like him, do you?" It wasn't surprising. From what I remembered they were enemies. The fact that Tanya and Sam got along was unheard of.

"It's not that I don't like him," Kate said carefully. "I don't trust him. I don't trust that him and his pack won't turn on us the minute we teach them to fight. Or that they won't try to kill us as soon as Victoria is dealt with."

"He wouldn't do that," I protested. I didn't know Sam well enough to know if he would honor the truce between the two but he did try to protect me from Jacob. That had to count for something.

"We are enemies Bella," Kate said patiently. "He wouldn't win in a fight again us but I wouldn't put it past them to try."

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," I told her.

Kate was next to me in the blink of an eye. "I know Bella. It will be fine. It will work out in the end."

"It has to work out," I said to myself.


	8. Chapter 8

I jerked awake. A scream caught in my throat. My heart was pounding and I could feel the sweat pouring down my face.

Another nightmare.

I was getting tired of these nightmares. They were the same thing every night. No, not every night. The nights I had Tanya with me they weren't as bad. But I refused to ask her to stay with me every night. It wasn't fair to her to be stuck in my room while I slept. It had to be boring for her.

The covers were thrown from my bed and I practically ran to the bathroom. I splashed cold water onto my face and neck. It didn't help. Nothing helped me after a nightmare like this. Well, one thing helped but Tanya had taken my razors away.

I dug through the medicine cabinet as quickly and quietly as I possibly could. After about a minute I found what I was looking for. A bottle of painkillers from when James broke my leg. The bottle was only missing a couple pills as I refused to take them.

Twenty-seven pills. That's how many pills I dumped into my hand. How many pills I planned on taking tonight, or this morning. I wasn't sure what the time was. I grabbed my glass and filled it with water.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I needed a moment to prepare myself. This was it. This was the moment when I would finally succeed after two previous attempts. My first attempt should have worked but I couldn't foresee vampires showing up. The second time was my own fault. I knew better than to bleed around vampires. This time I wasn't making that mistake. They wouldn't know until it was too late.

After a few more deep breaths I opened my eyes, ready to accept my fate. My eyes widened when I saw my hand was empty. All twenty-seven pills. Gone.

I looked around the bathroom, hoping to find some clue as to where my pills went. I found the culprit. Laurent was dumping the pills into the toilet, one at a time.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What am I doing?" he repeated. He dumped the last of the pills into the toilet and flushed it. "What are you doing? Do you have any idea how we would react if you succeeded? How Tanya would react?"

I stormed out of the bathroom and back to my room. I tried to shut my door before Laurent could follow me. Somehow, I had forgotten he was a vampire. After my door was shut, I turned around and found Laurent already in my room. He was sitting in the rocking chair.

"How could you have known? There was no blood." The question was mostly to myself. There was no way he could have known.

"Alice," Laurent responded. My eyes shot up to him. "She's been telling us whenever you make a decision."

"Alice," I groaned. Why hadn't I thought of that? Why was she watching my decisions? It wasn't like she cared.

"She does care," he said softly. Had I said that out loud or was I that predictable? "Tanya talks to her regularly. Alice didn't want to leave you. She left because Jasper wanted to leave, in order to keep you safe."

I gasped. Alice didn't want to leave. I couldn't fault Jasper for wanting to leave. I was too much of a temptation to him. It wasn't fair for him to suffer. Now that I knew why Alice left, I couldn't blame her either. Jasper was her mate. She would follow him anywhere. I couldn't compete with that.

"I…I didn't know," I whispered.

"Tanya should have told you," Laurent said.

"Why didn't she tell me?" I muttered. Things would have been different if I had known. I looked at my arms. Would this still have happened if I knew? I honestly didn't know but my gut said yes.

"Tanya wanted to," Laurent said honestly. "It was Alice that told her not to. Alice thought you would move on and heal. She didn't want to suffer."

"But I am suffering," I protested. "I have been suffering since they left."

"Which is why I have told you," Laurent explained. He cocked his head to the side. "Tanya is here. You should try to sleep some more." I climbed back into bed and closed my eyes. "Goodnight Bella."

Not even a minute later I felt Tanya's cool arms wrap around me. I expected her to say something about the pills but no words came. She simply held me while singing that song.

* * *

Morning came and I was alone in my bed. There was a note on my nightstand.

_Bella,_

_Kate and I are going to Seattle to look into the disappearances. The others are around if you need them. We should be back by the time you get home from school. Stay safe._

_Tanya_

I tucked the letter into my nightstand. I was worried about Kate and Tanya in Seattle. I shouldn't be. It was more likely to a human serial killer responsible and they were more than capable of looking after themselves, especially with Kate's gift.

The day went by quickly. The rest of my make-up work was turned in and most of my extra credit. Most of my teachers printed out progress reports in order to show me which assignments I was still missing. Unfortunately, it was still a lot.

"Hey Bella," Angela greeted as I walked to the parking lot.

"Hi Angela," I said with a smile. "How was your day?"

She shrugged. "I didn't realize how hard senior year was going to be."

"Yeah, I'm still trying to play catch up," I told her.

"Right. How are you Bella?" Angela asked concerned.

"I'm okay," I answered honestly. "It's hard still but I'm slowly getting better."

We walked over to where my truck was parked. "Is that Rosalie?" Angela asked squinting at the figure standing by my truck.

It wasn't Rosalie, I realized. For anyone that hadn't spent as much time with the Cullens as I had, it was an easy mistake. Once we got closer, I could see it was Irina. "Irina," I said when we got over to her. She looked fine but that didn't stop me from being worried. "What's wrong?"

"Hello Bella," Irina greeted. She hugged me. "Nothing is wrong." She glanced at Angela. "Who is your friend?"

"Oh, Irina, this is Angela Webber," I introduced. "Angela, this is Irina, umm…"

"Denali," Irina finished. "Irina Denali."

"Denali, like the town?" Angela asked curious.

"Yes like the town," Irina laughed. "My family actually lives there."

"Are you related to the Cullens?" Angela questioned.

Irina glanced at me. "Cousins," she responded. "Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing. It's just, you all look so much alike," Angela said embarrassed.

"What brings you here?" I asked in an attempt to pull the conversation away from how similar the Cullens and Denali's looked despite not actually being related.

"Kate and Tanya are back from their… shopping trip," Irina told me. It took me a moment to realize what she was talking about, that shopping trip was code for their investigation of the disappearances. It wasn't something that could be discussed in front of Angela.

"How did it go?" I asked. What I really wanted to ask was if they were okay. I couldn't do that with Angela here.

"They didn't get everything they needed but other than that it was fine," Irina replied. Good. That meant they were both fine.

"Bella," Angela said pulling my attention away from Irina. "Can I talk to you privately?"

I followed Angela several feet away from my truck. Not that it mattered. Irina was still going to hear everything we said. "I don't know how to say this but… are you dating her?" Angela asked hesitantly. "I mean, I don't care if you are but it's not a good idea. She's Edward's cousin." I flinched. "And I know he hurt you."

"I'm not dating Irina," I said firmly. I could see Irina laughing by my truck. Was the idea of dating me that funny? It wasn't like I wanted to date her. She had a mate and I wasn't interested in her. But did she really think the idea was that funny? Was I that unlovable? I glanced at Irina. The laughing stopped when she looked at me and she frowned. I turned my attention back to Angela. "We're friends Angela. The Denali's are nothing like the Cullen's."

"Bella," Angela said with a sigh. "I'm worried you're going to get hurt."

"Well don't be," I snapped storming off to my truck. I climbed in and looked at Irina, who was still standing beside the truck. "Are you coming?" Irina slid into the passenger seat.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Irina asked once we were out of the parking lot.

"Not particularly," I answered, gripping the steering wheel tightly. I wasn't sure which it she was referring to. Quite frankly I wasn't sure I cared.

"Bella," Irina began.

"Save it," I interrupted. "You don't need to say anything."

"Bella," Irina said again. I ignored her. I didn't want to hear anything she had to say. Out of the corner of her eye I could see her pull out her cell phone. By the time I got the courage to look at her the phone was gone.

I pulled into the driveway and headed inside. I didn't bother looking at Irina, or even acknowledging that she was in my truck still. My only hope was that Charlie and the neighbors didn't see Irina. I didn't want to explain that.

The walk to my room was slow. I wasn't in a hurry to get there. I knew the Denali's well enough to know at least one of them was waiting for me. I fully expected it to be Irina, trying to talk to me about what happened.

To my surprise I was wrong. It wasn't Irina. It was Tanya. "What are you doing here?" I asked confused.

"Hello to you too Bella," Tanya said looking up from her position on my bed. "Was I not who you were expecting?"

"No," I admitted. "I figured Irina would be in here."

"Ah yes, Irina," Tanya said. So, she knew. "Irina feels bad for laughing. She wasn't trying to hurt your feelings." She sat up. "Can I ask you something?" I nodded. "Why did it hurt your feelings so much? Did you want to date her?" She almost seemed hurt at the thought.

I shook my head. "It's not that," I assured her. "I just… it's… it made me feel like I was unlovable… that the thought of dating me was funny. I don't want to date Irina and I know she has a mate and wouldn't want me."

Before I could realize what was happening Tanya was standing in front of me. She pulled me into the room. "Bella, you are not unlovable. Irina was laughing because of how ridiculous it was that your friend assumed you were dating her just because we are related to the Cullen's."

Tears fell from my face. I really was an idiot. "I'm sorry," I said leaning against Tanya. "Can you tell Irina I'm sorry? I was kind of mean to her."

"You weren't mean Bella," Irina said from behind me.

I turned around to see Irina leaning against the wall. I pulled away from Tanya so I could go hug Irina. "I'm sorry," I cried. I could feel Irina's arm wrap around me.

"I'm not mad at you," Irina assured me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Why wasn't I invited to this party?" Kate asked. Leave it to Kate to ruin an emotional moment.

I pulled away from Irina and found Kate in my rocker. "Kate," Tanya groaned. "Now isn't the time."

Kate frowned. "I thought we were telling Bella about Seattle?"

"What happened in Seattle?" I asked moving toward Kate.

"We checked all of Seattle," Kate began. "There's no sign of the missing persons, dead or alive. We're are certain a vampire is involved."

"I don't understand," I said slowly. Why did missing people mean vampires?

"Laurent believes Victoria is creating an army of newborns," Irina continued. "The disappearances started right around the time we came to town. We think that once she realized another coven of vampires had come in town and were protecting you, she needed a new plan to get to you."

"Alice is checking Victoria's decisions," Tanya said taking over the explanation. "So far she isn't finding anything useful."

"So, you all think that Victoria is building an army to kill me?" I asked in disbelief. "That's ridiculous."

"We don't think the army is to kill you," Kate disagreed. "We think the army is a distraction for us, so she can get to you. She doesn't know everything about our relationship with you."

"Kate," Tanya warned.

Kate ignored her. I wondered what they meant. "She thinks we will leave you unprotected to deal with this army," Kate continued. "While it's true we will need to intervene if this gets too much worse, we would never leave you unprotected."

I didn't realize I was shaking until Tanya pulled me into her arms. "You will be safe. I will protect you," Tanya swore.

"Really? I thought that's why were here."

I froze in Tanya's arms. I knew that voice. It was a voice I dreamed about hearing again. I turned around slowly. I didn't dare believe what I heard. My eyes locked on the familiar faces.

Alice and Jasper had returned.


	9. Chapter 9

Nothing had prepared me for this moment. I thought I would be ready when they came back. I expected some anxiety over seeing them. I expected happiness, maybe even sadness. I didn't expect what I was actually feeling.

Anger.

I walked over to Alice and banged my fists on her chest. "How could you," I cried. I knew it wasn't her fault she left. But the way she left… that was entirely her fault.

I could feel the others moving toward me, probably to stop me from hurting myself. "Leave her," Jasper told them. It seemed a little weird. I was here, hitting his mate over and over again and he was telling them to let me. "She needs to get this out."

"I'm so sorry Bella," Alice said sadly. "I should have told you. I should have done something more. I am so sorry."

"Bella," Jasper said pulling my attention away from Alice. "Don't be angry at Alice. I made her leave. I tried to attack you that night. That was all me, not Alice."

"I never blamed you for that night," I said honestly. I had no more fight in me. "You're a vampire. I bled. It was my fault for getting a papercut. But Alice," I turned my attention back to her, "you should have told me. I would have understood. Right now… I don't know if I can forgive that."

"Bella," Alice protested.

"Alice," Jasper warned. "You might not like it but Bella is right." He turned his attention back to me. "We will respect your decision. We are here to help with Victoria. She was our responsibility and we failed. If you decide, after, that you don't want us around we will leave." Alice looked ready to protest but Jasper silenced her with a look.

"Of course, Bella," Alice said forcing a smile. "Take all the time you need." Even without Jasper's gift I knew she was sad.

Jasper handed me a piece of paper. "Our phone numbers," he explained. "We're staying in Port Angeles since our house is occupied."

"We did offer you the house back," Tanya said.

Jasper laughed. "We know. We don't want it. That's Carlisle's house, not ours. Besides, this gives Alice a chance to decorate." He grinned at his mate.

"Esme thought my tastes were too extravagant," Alice pouted.

"Solid gold bath fixtures, not at all extravagant," Jasper said with the shake of his head. "Call us if you need us, or if you just want to talk." With those words Jasper and Alice were gone.

I stared at the spot where they had stood. They were gone… again. I couldn't tell if I was relieved or sad. I honestly didn't expect them to leave so quickly, especially Alice. I know it was what I wanted but Alice didn't usually take no for an answer.

"Kate, Irina, can you give a minute?" Tanya requested. I didn't see or hear them leave. "Bella, are you okay?"

"Fine," I replied automatically. Tanya stared at me and I sighed. I sat on the edge of my bed. Tanya sat beside me. "Not fine," I corrected. "I spent months imagining Alice coming back here. I imagined Alice asking me to forgive her and in every scenario I imagined I forgave her. But seeing her now, I couldn't do it. I was so angry."

"No one blames you," Tanya assured me. "Alice understands. I don't think she looked to see how you would react because I think she was scared. She knows you have every right to be angry at her. She wasn't ready to accept that. I also know they won't leave again, unless you tell them to."

I wiped away the tears I didn't realize had fallen. "Charlie," I remembered. Had he been home during this? If so, how was I going to explain everything?

"Is still at work," Tanya said answering my unspoken question.

"Why are they here?" I asked after a few minutes. There sudden reappearance was bugging me.

Tanya sighed. "You were so upset about Alice leaving. So, I called them and asked them to come back. Alice wanted to come back immediately as did Jasper, once he figured out that Victoria was after you. He felt he owed it to you since he knew better than to let her live."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked with a frown.

Tanya hesitated for a moment. "Jasper has experience with vampires. He knew not to leave a vampire alive after killing their mate. You would have to ask him if you want to know more. That's his story to tell."

That's when it dawned on me that I knew nothing about Jasper's past. I knew he struggled with human blood but I never thought to ask him why. I had been so focused on E-Ed- Edward to even think about the other Cullens. Next time I saw him I would ask him about it. I didn't know if he would be willing to tell me but it was worth a try.

"I'll talk to him," I said.

"Jasper has friends coming to Forks," Tanya informed me.

"Okay," I said slowly. "Why are you telling me?"

"Two reasons." She held up a finger. "One you weren't willing to talk to Jasper so he didn't have an opportunity to tell you. Two," she held up another finger, "they are human drinkers. We wanted to make sure you were told before they showed up."

"Human drinkers," I gulped. I had a terrible history with human drinkers. Two of the three I met had tried, or are currently trying, to kill me. These may be Jasper's friends but I was still nervous.

"They will be on their best behavior," Tanya promised. "Peter and Charlotte only feed from bad humans. Peter has this… gift. As Jasper likes to say 'he knows shit.' He tends to know when someone is bad and that's how they pick their meals."

I wasn't sure if that helped or not. "What will Sam say about it?" I asked.

Tanya shrugged. "I'm sure he won't be happy but we need them. He will understand that."

"I thought your family could handle the newborns," I said confused. I didn't like this. It was getting too dangerous.

"We can," Tanya said. "But not without injuries. Also, you did ask me not to be a part of that, remember?" I nodded. I didn't want her near Victoria. Not again. "The wolves, Alice and Jasper, Peter and Charlotte and my family, we will have no trouble dealing with the newborns and even Victoria herself. Peter and Charlotte also have experience with newborns. With them helping we will be fine, even without me."

That explained how Jasper knew human drinkers. "I feel bad," I whispered. It was true. I did feel bad, but it wasn't because I was making Tanya stay with me. It was because that decision made the others unsafe."

"Don't Bella," Tanya said. "The others understand and they are not mad at you." I could feel Tanya's eyes on me. "Bella, having Peter and Charlotte here is just an extra precaution. We would be fine without them."

I still wasn't convinced but I let it go. "Fine," I said. I couldn't tell if Tanya bought it, probably not.

Tanya's phone vibrated in her pocket. She quickly scanned through the message and sighed. "The police in Seattle think they got a lead on Riley. Charlie will be going to Seattle tonight to help out."

"How…?" I shook my head. I didn't want to know.

"Irina," Tanya answered. "She's watching Charlie."

"Is it safe for him in Seattle?" I questioned.

"Someone will be with him," Tanya assured me. "Even if the newborns are there, they won't get close to Charlie. But since Charlie will be gone tonight… You can come with us to wolf boot camp. Kate's words, not mine."

"Wolf boot camp?" I repeated.

"Training for the newborns," Tanya explained. "We are doing it at midnight. Less chance of anyone seeing us and the wolves."

"Are you training?" I asked.

"I am," Tanya confirmed. "I'm helping them. Jasper is running it. The best way for the wolves to practice is to fight against me, Irina and Kate. We are the oldest and therefore the strongest. If they can beat us then they will have no trouble against newborns as long as they use some common sense."

"What do you mean?" I asked leaning against her.

"Newborns have their own blood lingering in their tissues," Tanya began. "It makes them stronger than the average vampire. But they're also dumber. All they care about is blood. It makes them easier to take down because they have no sense of self-preservation. Kind of like you."

I glared at her. "Do too," I grumbled under my breath. It was childish, I know, but I couldn't help it.

The phone rang and I jumped up to go answer it. On my way out the door I tripped. I should have known better but I expected to hit the floor and have more than one bruise. But the impact never came. Instead I felt a cold, hard body.

Before I knew what was happening, I was downstairs in front of the phone. Tanya must have thought it was safer to carry me downstairs instead of letting me walk. As much as it frustrated me, she was right.

"Hello."

"_Bella_," Charlie said.

"Hi Dad." He must he calling about Seattle.

"_Listen Bella, I won't be home tonight. I have to head to Seattle. We may have gotten a lead on a missing person." _

"That's okay Dad," I told him. "I understand."

"_Are you going to be okay on your own?" _he asked concerned.

"I'll be fine Dad," I assured him. "Maybe I'll call Sam and Emily and see if they want to hang out."

"_That sounds like a great idea Bella_," Charlie said happily.

"I'll call them," I promised. It wasn't a complete lie. I was going to hang out with them later but not when Charlie wanted. I didn't feel guilty though. He didn't want me to be alone and I wasn't alone. That's what was important.

"_Good. Have a good time Bella. There's some money in the drawer by the fridge if you guys want to order pizza_," Charlie said. "_Bye Bella_."

"Bye Dad. Be safe."

"It's too early to head to the clearing. What do you want to do until then?" Tanya asked.

I shrugged. "Probably homework and some cleaning," I answered.

"Alright. You do homework. I'll clean. Then I will take you out to dinner before we meet the others," Tanya suggested.

"You don't have to do that," I told her. I was sure she had better things to do then clean.

"I want to," Tanya insisted. "Go, get your homework done."

I did what she said. It was dinnertime by the time I finished my homework. Tanya finished cleaning around the same time as me. I knew she purposely went slow. It was ridiculous. She could finish in minutes yet she allowed herself to take over two hours.

"I'm going to run and get my car," Tanya told me. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She kissed my forehead and disappeared.

While Tanya was gone, I changed into something nicer. A blue sweater that covered my arms and a pair of dark jeans. I had just finished brushing my hair when I heard a knock on the door. It must have been Tanya.

I pulled the door open and sure enough there was Tanya, wearing a black pantsuit that really stood out against her pale skin. "Are you ready to go?" Tanya asked.

"I feel underdressed," I muttered. Now that I thought about it, it was rather fitting. It represented a human being beside a vampire. It was how I felt every time I was beside him.

"You're perfect Bella," Tanya said. I blushed. "Do you have a preference for dinner?"

"Why are we going to dinner?" I questioned. She held open the door to her car. "You don't eat."

She climbed into the drivers seat but didn't start the car. "You need to get out and be a human. Go to dinner and eat till you're stuffed. Not sit around and wait for a vampire to try and kill you. Your life has been ruled by vampires so tonight for a few hours we are going to be human, or as human as I can be."

She started the car and drove toward Port Angeles. "Does that mean you're going to eat?" I asked.

"Yes," Tanya said with a sigh. It was as if it pained her to say it. Honestly, it probably did. "I will be eating with you."

"You don't have to do that," I quickly told her. As much as I appreciated it, it was unnecessary. "I know how much you guys hate human food."

"Yes, I'm not a fan of human food, but I want to do this," Tanya said. She glanced at me. "Besides it's hard to give you a nice human experience if I don't eat. Now, what are you in the mood for?"

My first instinct was to pick something cheap and simple, like fast food. But knowing Tanya she would take me somewhere that was the complete opposite, like a five-star restaurant. I didn't know how to respond. The only restaurant I knew about was the Italian place _he _took me to that night.

"I don't care," I finally said. I would let her pick something. I was bound to regret it but there wasn't much I could do about that.

"Okay, lucky for you I did some research," Tanya said with a grin. "I know the perfect place."

We sped down the highway. Tanya drove fast, just like every other vampire I knew. I got the feeling that she was going slower than normal for my sake. I did appreciate it. It wasn't that I feared for my life. I was confident she wouldn't let any harm come to me. My stomach however, couldn't take the fast speeds. It always made me queasy.

I couldn't help the glare when she pulled into the parking lot of C'est Si Bon, an expensive French restaurant. "Don't glare," Tanya said. "You should have picked something."

"Dang vampires," I muttered under my breath. Tanya grinned.

Before I could open the door and march off toward the restaurant, Tanya was standing there, door open and hand out to help me. I took her hand even though I still mad at her for picking a fancy restaurant.

Thanks to the vampire charms we were seated immediately. Tanya even convinced them to seat us away from everyone.

"What can I get you to drink?" the waiter asked. I watched him but he barely paid any attention to Tanya. It was strange seeing as guys couldn't keep their eyes off her in most cases.

"Water for me," Tanya answered.

The waiter turned to me. I picked the first thing I could find. "Lemonade."

"Would you ladies care to try an appetizer?" he asked.

I glanced through the menu, knowing Tanya would either pick nothing, or everything. "Bella," Tanya said letting it know it was my choice.

Even though I thought it was ridiculous to come here I figured I may as well enough it. "Fruits de Mer au Gratin," I told the waiter. It was a dish with scallops, crab and shrimp.

"I'll be right back with your drinks," the waiter said.

"It's not too late to back out of dinner," I told Tanya.

"I'm not backing out," Tanya said.

The waiter returned with our drinks. "Are you ready to order?"

"Bella?" I nodded, letting her know I know what I wanted. "I'll have the Saumon En Papilotte," she told the waiter.

He wrote down the order and turned to me. "I'll have the rack of lamb," I told him.

He jotted down my order. "I'll be back with your salads."

"Why isn't he staring at you?" I asked once he was out of earshot. "All the other human males can't keep their eyes off you but him… nothing."

Tanya laughed. "He's gay Bella," she said softly. "If one of the guys were here he would be staring."

"Oh," I said playing with my straw. That explained it.

"He's currently talking to one of the waitresses," Tanya continued. "She's jealous she didn't get our table."

"Does that ever bother you?" I wondered. "The fact that you can hear everything."

"Sometimes," Tanya said honestly. She paused when the waiter returned with our salads. True to her word she slowly started eating it. She even managed to not make faces every time she took a bite. "After a thousand years I've learned to tune things out. It's necessary when living with mated couples."

I blushed at the thought. I couldn't imagine having to hear… that all the time. "I'm glad I'm not a vampire," I muttered.

"Really?" Tanya repeated in surprise. She leaned forward in her seat. "I was under the impression that was what you wanted."

"It was," I admitted. "But I gave up on that dream when he left me in the forest."

Our food was brought to the table. "Do you need anything else?" the waiter asked. We shook our head. "Enjoy."

Halfway through my meal I sat my fork down. "If I asked you something, would you promise to tell the truth, regardless of how you think I will react?"

Tanya sat her own fork down. At least a minute passed without her saying anything. It looked like she was debating on how to answer my question. "Yes," she said finally.

"Why are you doing all this?" I asked. "Why does your family care so damn much about me?"

Tanya sighed. "The reason we have protecting you, the reason we care so much is simple." Her gold eyes locked on mine. "You're my mate Bella," Tanya told me.

Wait, what?


	10. Chapter 10

Of all the thing I expected her to say, that was not it.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Her inability to let me die. How comfortable I was around her from day one. Her family's willingness to risk their lives over a human they barely knew.

I should have known.

I can't believe how dumb, how oblivious, I was. This explained everything. Like my reaction when she got hurt and why I begged her not to go out looking for Victoria again.

Then something crossed my mind. Tanya had told me that Alice sent her to Forks. Was this the reason Alice sent her? "Did Alice know?"

"She figured it out, the first night you tried to kill yourself," Tanya replied. "At the time we were simply the closest and Alice knew we would help. But as soon as she decided to call us to help, she had a vision of us together. She knew you weren't going to die, not then."

"Did you know, when you saved me?" I wanted to know. I don't think the answer would change anything. I was simply curious.

"I knew," she confirmed. "Alice never told me. She didn't need to. As soon as I saw you, I knew. Laurent wanted me to turn you. But I couldn't do it. Those emotions you felt then. They would have carried over. You would have been suicidal and still in love with him. On top of that you would have realized the mating bond. Not a good combination."

"What changed?" I asked.

"Since your first attempt Alice has been watching your decisions. Anytime you made a decision to kill yourself and Alice saw you acting on it she told us. Since we've known you, you've tried three times. But Alice said your thoughts of suicide and the many decisions have slowly gone down," Tanya explained.

I ate slowly in an attempt to process through everything Tanya was telling me. "Did you plan on telling me when you brought me here?" I whispered.

"Honestly, no," Tanya answered. "I brought you here for a date." I dropped my fork in surprise. "It was actually Jasper who urged me to tell you the truth. He reminded me that you don't like secrets."

Jasper was right. "So, what happens now?" I asked.

"What do you want to happen?" Tanya countered.

"I… don't know," I said honestly. I had come to terms with the fact that I cared about Tanya. But love I wasn't so sure about. I wasn't sure if I could handle loving someone, vampire or not, again. I didn't know if I could survive the pain of losing someone again.

"There's no pressure Bella," Tanya promised. "I've waited a thousand years for you. I can wait a few more if needed."

"That sounds too easy," I said skeptically.

"It's not supposed to be hard," Tanya told me. "The Cullens, they try to hard to deny their nature. In the end, they made things harder for themselves. My family and I, we've learned to embrace our nature, instead of seeing it as a curse."

The rest of the meal was silent. Halfway through Tanya gave up trying to eat. I was surprised she managed to eat half the plate. Tanya paid, leaving a tip that was more than the cost of the meal, and we left the restaurant.

"Are you cold?" Tanya asked, taking her blazer off. She draped it around my shoulders and we continued to walk through the streets.

"Last time I was here Ed…Edward saved me from a group of guys," I told her. Tanya tensed up beside me. I pointed out the Italian restaurant. "That's where he told me he could read minds."

"Do you want to leave?" Tanya asked.

I shook my head and leaned against her. Despite her cold body I felt warm. "No," I answered. "I want to stay. Can we go to that brewery down the road? I want to get Charlie some beer."

"Of course. How do you plan on buying beer when you're only eighteen?" Tanya teased.

"I was hoping a certain thousand-year-old vampire could help," I told her.

Tanya laughed. "I think I can help with that."

We walked in the brewery. There was a man behind the podium. His eyes narrowed at the sight of me. He must have known I was under twenty-one. Luckily the sight of Tanya distracted him.

"We need a case of your finest beer," Tanya told the man.

"Of course," he stuttered. "I'll go get that right away."

"Human males are too easy," Tanya muttered.

A few minutes later the man returned with the case of beer. "That will be $21.23," he told us. Before I could attempt to pull out my wallet Tanya was already swiping her credit card. "Have a good day." Taya grabbed the beer and we headed back to the car.

"We should go back to Forks," Tanya said. "That way you can sleep a few hours before we have to meet the others."

It was starting to get dark when we got back to Forks. She parked at the Cullen house and we ran back to my house.

"Sleep Bella," Tanya told me. "I'll wake you when it's time."

I loved closer to her cool body. Within minutes I was asleep.

"Bella," Tanya whispered, gently shaking me awake. "It's almost midnight."

I groaned and rolled over. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"Three and a half hours," Tanya replied. "Would you rather stay?"

"No," I said shaking my head. "I want to go." Besides, the wolves and vampires were less likely to kill each other if there was a human there.

"Grab a jacket," Tanya instructed. "We need to stop at the house so I can change." She gestured to the pantsuit she was still wearing.

"Why didn't you change while I slept?" I asked, grabbing my jacket like she said.

"I didn't want to leave you," she said honestly. "The others were hunting and there was no one to keep an eye on you."

"I would have been fine," I told her.

Tanya shook her head. "I wasn't going to risk it. I will never risk your safety especially with a psychotic vampire after you."

She pulled me into her arms and we ran back to the Cullen house. She dropped me on the couch while she went upstairs to change.

Minutes later we were in the clearing. The wolves, the Denali's and Alice and Jasper were already there when we arrived. Tanya placed on a tree stump. "Stay here," she instructed. "I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

I pulled my sweater closer to my body. It was colder than I expected. I knew they could all hear my teeth chattering as I watched Tanya and Jasper spar, or tried to watch. They were too fast for me to see much.

Sam jogged over to me. He sat down beside me and opened his arms. I stared at him, unsure what he was doing. "You're cold. My body is warm. Our temperature runs about 110 degrees. Don't worry. Tanya approves."

I glanced at Tanya and she nodded. I scooted closer to Sam and sighed in relief when I immediately warmed up. "Thanks. Why are you human and the rest of them aren't?"

"The Pack doesn't trust the vampires," Sam explained. "I trust Tanya, to an extent."

"Why are they here then?" I questioned.

Sam shrugged against me. "Most want the chance to kill a vampire. Even though they don't like, or trust, the vampires they are grateful to learn how to defend the tribe. Not that they would ever admit it."

"Jacob," I began.

"Is on the Rez," Sam finished. "I allowed him to phase so he can hear what is going on, and in case something happens. We have telepathy when phased," he added when he saw my confused look. "But he's not allowed to be near you, or the Denali's."

I winced as Jasper threw Laurent into a tree. Laurent may be older but Jasper was definitely the better fighter. "They're fine," Sam assured me.

"I know," I said. I knew they would never actually hurt each other.

Jasper turned his attention to the wolves. "Would any of you like to try?"

"Are you warm enough?" Sam asked. I nodded. "I will." Sam pulled away from me and jogged over to Jasper.

Tanya came over to my side. I leaned against her. "Are you warm enough?"

"Yes," I said. I watched as Sam phased.

"Remember not to go for the obvious kill," Jasper warned him. "Newborns will be expecting that. And never let them get their arms around you. You will lose."

Sam nodded and they began circling each other.

Alice danced over to our side. "Hi Bella," she greeted nervously.

"Hi Alice." I had to admit, even though I was still mad at her, I did miss her.

"Are you worried about the newborns?" she asked.

"Yeah," I admitted. Sam flew into a tree. "I have a bad feeling something is going to happen." I looked at Alice. "Have you seen anything?"

"I can't see around the wolves," Alice admitted. It sounded like it pained her to admit it. "If I look far enough into the future, I see all of us alive. But that's it."

"But…"

"Not buts Bella," Tanya interrupted. "We are going to win. It's okay to believe that."

"History says otherwise," I pointed out.

"That wasn't us," Alice interjected. "That was because Carlisle didn't want to kill James. If he had let us deal with James from the beginning then none of that, what happened in Phoenix, would have happened. You wouldn't have lied to me and Jasper." She glared at me. I winced. I didn't realize she was still upset over that. "All of it would have been avoided. Carlisle didn't like it when I pointed that out to him."

I didn't want to believe it. But I did. Because I knew Carlisle and his desire to preserve life. Even if that life was trying to end mine.

"Is he alright?" I asked when Sam was thrown into another tree. The wolves all growled as Sam got up.

"He's fine. Jasper won't do any permanent harm," Alice promised. "I think he's enjoying himself."

"Which one?" I asked, glancing back and forth between the snarling wolf and the grinning Jasper

"Both," Tanya replied. "Perhaps too much fun on Jasper's part."

"He does like training people," Alice admitted. The smallest of the wolves traded places with Sam.

"You should talk to Alice," Tanya whispered in my ear. "I know you want to. What's stopping you?"

I glanced at Alice. She was watching Jasper and the smallest wolf. Jasper didn't seem to be trying at all, as the wolf threw Jasper into a tree. I knew Alice could hear us, but either she was too focused on Jasper or she was doing her best to respect our privacy.

"I'm afraid of getting hurt again," I confessed. Alice's mouth twitched slightly and I knew she wanted to say something.

"I know you miss her Bella," Tanya said. I shivered. She tried to pull away but I held her close.

Sam jogged over as if being called. "Don't mind me," he said wrapping his arms around me.

Tanya didn't seem at all bothered by his presence. "I won't forgive them for what they've done but I know how much they mean to you," Tanya continued. "Talk to her."

"Tomorrow," I decided. I looked at Alice as I spoke. She nodded. I wasn't sure how I felt about the inevitable conversation between us. On the one hand Tanya was right. I did miss Alice. I even missed Jasper. On the other hand, what I told Tanya still rang true. I didn't want to get hurt. I didn't want to get close to them, only for them to turn around and leave me again.

"Bella," Tanya said shaking me.

"What's going on?" I mumbled sleepily.

"You fell asleep," Tanya said. "We're done here. Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah," I said. I yawned. "Why didn't you just take me home?"

"You're a little tied up at the moment," Tanya answered.

It took me a moment to realize it wasn't Tanya's arm I was in. It was Sam. He was fast asleep next to me, using his body to keep me warm. "Right." I gently shook Sam's shoulder. "Sam, wake up." I was suddenly aware of how warm he was. "A little help?"

Tanya grinned at me and touched Sam's shoulder. The cold of her skin was enough to make him jump up. "What the hell?" he yelped.

"You were going to give my mate heatstroke," Tanya said with a shrug. She pulled me into her arms. "Are you ready Bella?" I nodded and she took off.


	11. Chapter 11

The car ride was silent. Tanya had taken me to school as I was too tired to drive myself. I decided to stay home and sleep while they trained. There was really no reason to be there. Tanya agreed and decided to stay with me.

We were currently on our way back to my house, so I could talk to Alice. I had also invited Jasper so Alice didn't feel like we were ganging up on her.

Charlie was following a lead on Riley Biers and wouldn't be back until late tonight or sometime tomorrow. The others were convinced Riley was dead. I wasn't sure but I didn't think Charlie was going to find him, alive or dead.

"Are you okay?" Tanya asked, getting my attention.

"Fine, why?" I asked.

"We've been sitting in the driveway for five minutes now and you haven't moved," Tanya answered. "Something wrong?"

"I was thinking about Charlie," I said honestly.

"He's okay," Tanya promised. "Carmen and Eleazar are in Seattle right now."

"I know," I said. I trusted them to keep Charlie save. They took his safety as seriously as they took my own. "I wish he could find something so he could stop searching."

"We're doing everything we can to find the boy."

I glanced at her. "What aren't you saying?"

"Jasper thinks someone may have turned him," Tanya confessed. "It would explain why we can't find his body, or any sign of him."

"Why would someone turn him though?" I asked confused. "He's just a small town boy from…" I could feel the blood draining from my face as I realized what was going on. "He's from Forks. Victoria…she wanted someone who knew the area."

"So it would seem," Tanya said.

We got out of the car. As soon as I opened the door it was slammed shut. I looked at Tanya and was surprised by what I saw: flared nostrils, lip curled back and black eyes glaring at the door.

"Get in the car," Tanya instructed.

I wanted to argue, to tell her she sounded like Edward, but I couldn't. The look in her eyes, the look of fear, stopped me. I did what she asked and got back in the car.

Kate, Irina, Alice and Jasper showed up seconds later. Kate climbed into the car with me, while the others went straight to Tanya. I watched as the four disappeared in my house.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Figures she didn't tell you," Kate muttered to herself. "Tanya smelled a vampire in your house. Alice saw it and we all came running."

"Alice saw the vampire?" Why hadn't she said anything before?

"No," Kate said, leaning forward in her seat. "She saw the aftermath. Whoever this vampire is, they knew about Alice's gift."

"You don't know who it is," I realized.

"No, we don't," Kate admitted. "It's not Victoria but it's possible this is a newborn or a newer vampire. Someone we haven't seen before." Tanya came out of the house. "Come on."

I went straight to Tanya. Her eyes were still dark and I wasn't sure they would fade back to gold anytime soon. "Whoever it is, is long gone," Tanya said pulling me close to her body. "I'm sorry Bella. I didn't mean to act the way I did. I was terrified the vampire was still in here. It's no excuse. I know that. I'm sorry."

I kissed her cheek. "You don't have to keep apologizing. I was mad at first, because you sounded like Edward," she growled, "when he never told me anything and claimed he was protecting me. I'm a big kid Tanya. You don't need to protect me. I can handle the truth."

"Okay," Tanya agreed. "I know Kate already filled you in on the unknown vampire. We searched your house. No sign of him, but his scent is strongest in your room. Jasper suggested you check your room and see if anything is missing."

I followed Tanya to my room. Alice, Jasper and Irina were already there sitting and waiting. I quickly searched through my things. I was ready to tell them nothing was missing when it came to me.

"My red shirt," I told them.

Tanya growled and looked ready to punch something. "Go cool off," Irina told her. Tanya looked ready to protest. "Go. Or I will have Kate drag you out. We will stay with Bella."

Tanya looked at me. I nodded in encouragement and she disappeared out my window. Kate practically dragged me to my bed.

"I don't get it. Why would an unknown vampire want my shirt?" I asked confused.

"Your scent Bella," Jasper said. He was tense and I don't think it was because he was in the same room as me. It didn't take long for me to figure it out. He was reacting to the tension in the room. Tension coming from every single vampire. "Whoever stole your shift has your scent, most likely to give it to the other newborns. So, they can find you."

"Jasper, you don't have to stay," I said softly. "I'm sure it's hard for you with all this tension."

"I'm fine Bella. Thank you," he said smiling at me. I could see why the girls at school had liked him so much.

I leaned against Irina. It was the closest I could get to being in Tanya's arms. "What happened?" I asked the sisters.

"She's angry," Kate answered. "It's one thing for a psychotic vampire to want revenge for their dead mate. But this is different. Now we know the newborn army is targeting you. She's not coping well."

"Well, all I can say is I would hate to be Victoria," Irina inputted. "If Tanya ever gets ahold of her. It's not going to be pretty."

Jasper grinned. I shivered. He actually looked like a vampire. "Sorry Bella," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm fine," I promised. "When is Tanya coming back?"

"I'm here," Tanya said, as if she was standing in my room the entire time.

I climbed off the bed and threw my arms around her. "Are you okay?" I asked, kissing her cheek.

"I'm okay," Tanya told me. "I lost my temper. It won't happen again." She turned to the others. "What are we doing?"

"I'm watching Bella's future," Alice said before anyone else could speak. "I'm also watching Victoria's decisions but I'm not getting anything from her. She learned how to get around my visions. I don't think I will see anything until she's ready."

"Peter and Charlotte will be here tomorrow," Jasper added. "I've filled them in on this latest development and they're worried about Bella."

"We knew she had newborns on her side," Kate reminded Tanya. "This doesn't change anything."

"This changes everything," Tanya snarled. "We knew Victoria was targeting Bella. We didn't know that was the purpose of the newborns."

I guess I was the only one who thought that they were after me. "It was a logical conclusion Tanya," Irina pointed out. "It was either that or the newborns were to distract us. Perhaps it's a bit of both."

"Tanya stop," I said before she could snap at Irina too. "I'm right here. Right next to you. Calm down."

"I'm sorry Irina," Tanya apologized.

"I understand your frustrations sister," Irina said. "We would be just as frustrated if it were our mate."

"I will check in with Carmen and Eleazar," Kate added. "We will find the newborns and Victoria."

Kate and Irina disappeared out the window, leaving me and Tanya with Alice and Jasper. "You said you wanted to talk," Alice reminded me.

Jasper and Tanya huddled together to discuss strategy. It was their way of giving us some privacy. "I know you heard me talking to Tanya last night," I began. She nodded but didn't say anything. "I don't know if I forgive you. I want to but I can't handle it if you leave again. You, Edward, your entire family. You all broke me."

"I know Bella," Alice said sadly. "When we agreed to leave… I promised not to look for your future. If I had, I would have seen all of this. I never would have left if I had known what it would do to you."

"It's not all bad," I told her. Alice looked at me confused. "If you hadn't left, I wouldn't have met Tanya. I would still be depressed over Edward, over a love that wasn't true."

"I wish I could say I planned it that way," Alice said. "I'm glad you got something out of this. I'm not leaving again even if you want me to go. I'll still be close by, just in case."

"I don't want you to go Alice," I said honestly. I held my arms out and she practically threw herself into them.

"I'll do everything I can to make it up to you Bella," she promised. "Starting with Victoria."

Jasper and Tanya abandoned their… probably fake conversation. "Alice, darling, time to let Bella go," Jasper said gently prying Alice from me.

Alice released me and I gasped for breath. I hadn't realized how tight Alice's grip had been. Seconds after Alice's arms were removed, I found myself in a much more comfortable set of arms.

"Are you okay?" Tanya whispered in my ear.

"Do you ever get tired of asking that?" I countered. I didn't wait for her to answer. "I'm fine. Her grip was a little stronger than I remembered."

"Bella," Jasper began.

"I was never mad at you Jasper," I told him. I slowly walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. He stiffened at the touch. I tried to move away, so he wasn't forced to be more uncomfortable than he already was, but he tightened his grip.

"Thanks Bella," he whispered in my ear. He released me.

"Alice, can you… I mean… could you…"

"Charlie is fine Bella," Alice promised. "He will be home at 8:12pm. I would suggest cooking something extra nice for dinner. He's a bit stressed."

I nodded. "I should go to the store then."

"I can go with you," Jasper offered. I looked between him and Tanya. Was there something going on that I wasn't aware of?

"She needs to hunt," Alice explained. "And she won't go unless you force her."

Tanya glared at Alice. "Stay out of it, Alice."

I frowned. "Is that true Tanya?" I studied her face. Her eyes were dark and had been since we got back to my house. I touched the dark circles under her eyes. It made her seem more human but I didn't like it. She seemed weaker. "Go hunt."

Tanya growled at Alice. I looked to Jasper but he didn't seem concerned. "She's not angry at you," Jasper muttered. "Or even Alice."

Jasper must have been doing something to Tanya because the growling stopped and she took a deep breath. She kissed my forehead and smelled my hair. "If anything happens to her…"

"You and I both know I am the safest person for her to be with," Jasper said crossing his arms over his chest. "You may be older but I know how to fight. I was made to fight."

"What…"

Jasper held up his hand. "I will tell you later," he promised.

I nodded. "I'll be fine Tanya. I trust Jasper. Besides, he's kept me safe before." I kissed her cheek. "Go hunt."

"Come on Tanya," Alice said tugging on Tanya's sleeve. "If we go now, you will be back before Bella goes to sleep." Tanya still didn't move. "Tanya, she's fine with Jasper. He's right. He is the safest person for her to be with."

Tanya kissed my forehead and they disappeared.

"Are you ready to go?" Jasper asked. He tossed a jacket at me.

"Yeah, I just need to grab some cash from downstairs," I said. I immediately regretted those words. Jasper got that look in his eye that I had seen many times on others. "Jasper…"

"Don't argue Bella," he said firmly.

I sighed. There was no arguing with Jasper, especially when he could force me to do what he wanted. Not that I thought Jasper would do that. He was much too polite for that.

I was surprised Jasper didn't say a word about my truck as we drove to the store. I fully expected him to complain the whole drive there.

"Are you worried about people realizing your back?" I asked him.

"Not at all," Jasper replied. "I graduated last year. It wouldn't be too surprising for me to return for a visit. I'm worried about you. They're bound to ask questions. I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I can handle them," I told him. I pulled into the parking lot and we got out of the truck.

There were a few people that stared at us while we shopped. A glare here and there from Jasper kept anyone from approaching us. It was rather nice. In a small town like Forks it was almost impossible to do any grocery shopping without talking to someone.

"So, what are we making?" Jasper asked as we wandered down the aisles.

"We?" I questioned raising an eyebrow at him.

"You," he amended.

"Steak and potatoes," I answered. "It's Charlie's favorite meal. Figured I would throw in some broccoli and make some brownies."

Jasper nodded in approval. "If I was human, that would sound appetizing."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm sorry it's not a bear or a mountain lion."

Jasper laughed. "Elk is actually my preferred animal," he informed me.

I grabbed a pack of steaks that were fairly cheap. Jasper saw it and put my steaks back and grabbed the better-quality ones. "How do you know steak?"

"I read," he answered. "I also know you are picking out cheaper things because I'm paying. Stop being difficult or you will find yourself with a fridge full of expensive foods that you will have to explain to Charlie."

I glared at him. "Damn manipulative vampires," I grumbled.

Jasper smirked. "What else do you need?" he asked.

I tapped my chin. "Brownie mix, ice cream, potatoes and broccoli," I listed.

"I'll grab the brownie mix and ice cream," Jasper offered. "I can meet you at the vegetables."

I stared at Jasper suspiciously. "What are you planning?" I demanded.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jasper said innocently.

"Fine," I sighed. "Two minutes."

I made my way to the vegetables. While I was here, I decided to stock up on food for the week. I'm sure Charlie would appreciate some homecooked meals while he was home. I grabbed a bag of potatoes and dropped them into the cart, as well as two large ones for baked potatoes. I grabbed some asparagus for another night. Next I grabbed broccoli, cauliflower and peppers.

Fruits were added to the basket in an attempt to get Charlie to eat a bit healthier. It was more likely that I would end up eating them but it couldn't hurt to try.

"Bella." I sighed. This was the last person I wanted to talk to. I turned around.

"Hello Jessica." I was relieved to see she was alone. The only thing that could make this worse was Lauren being with her.

"Did I see Jasper Hale?" she asked. At least she got straight to the point. That was the best part of Jessica. She got straight to the point, whether I wanted to hear it or not.

"Probably," I said turning away from Jessica so I could get back to my shopping.

"Did Edward come back?"

"No," I answered. "Just Jasper." There was no reason to bring Alice right now.

"Well at least you have Jasper," Jessica said.

I dropped the potato and turned to face Jessica. "What is that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

She shrugged. "Nothing really, we always wondered how close you were to the Cullens. Now Jasper is back, but there's no Edward. Seems kind of strange. Makes me wonder how close you were to Emmett."

Jasper chose that moment to walk over to us. He dumped the ice cream and brownie mix into the cart. "Jessica," he greeted politely.

Jessica may not have noticed it but I recognized that look in Jasper's eye. It was the angry vampire took. The look that meant Jasper was about to do something.

"Jasper," Jessica said with a fake smile.

Jasper stared at her for a minute. I wasn't sure what he was doing until I heard her whimper. "Jasper stop," I whispered so Jessica wouldn't know he was responsible for whatever she was feeling. Another few seconds passed before the whimpering stopped and Jessica ran away from us. "What did you do to her?"

"Everything you felt, all that pain you had when we were gone, that I know you still feel deep down… I made her feel it all," Jasper said, turning to face me. "For someone as shallow as Jessica, who has never felt real pain, she couldn't handle it."

"You shouldn't have done that," I scolded. "What if she realizes you did it?"

"She won't," Jasper said confidently. "Humans are quick to explain away the unexplainable. You're the only human to see through that."

I grabbed the rest of the items on list and followed Jasper to the register. "I'm going to wait outside," I told him. The last thing I wanted was to see how much money he was wasting for me and Charlie. Jasper nodded and pulled out his wallet.

I leaned against my truck as I waited. I didn't expect this to take long. I felt bad leaving Jasper to do all the work alone but I needed some space. "Hello darlin'," a southern man greeted.

I jumped at the sound of his voice. I turned and was horrified to find two pairs of red eyes staring at me.


	12. Chapter 12

I was frozen in place. Two human drinkers were here, most likely to kill me. I wanted to run but there was nowhere to go. They would catch me in an instant. I opened my mouth to scream for Jasper but before I could a cold hand was placed over my mouth.

"It's me Bella," Jasper whispered in my ear. I instantly relaxed.

"Peter, you asshole," the woman said smacking the back of the man's head. "Jasper warned us she had bad experiences with human drinkers." The woman turned her attention to me and smiled warmly. "I'm Charlotte. It's good to finally meet you Bella."

Peter. Charlotte. These were Jasper's friends. The ones that fed on humans. They never had any intention of hurting me. Apparently, Peter was playing a joke. One that was not actually funny.

"Peter," Jasper said with a sigh. "You know she is mated to Tanya Denali. If she was here, she would rip you to pieces. Hell, she might do it anyway."

"Sorry Bella," Peter said sheepishly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Peter, shut up and put the groceries in the truck," Jasper ordered. While Peter loaded up my truck, Jasper turned his attention to Charlotte. "I thought you guys were coming tomorrow."

"Alice called and told us about the newborns," Charlotte explained. "She also told us about Tanya's reaction and how she is destroying animal life in the areas surrounding Forks. We thought it was best to get here sooner."

Jasper nodded in approval. "Good. With you both here we can move forward." Move forward. That meant they were actually going to confront these vampires. I didn't like it. "Don't worry Bella. With nine vampires and the wolves we will be fine. Come on. We need to get you back. You can follow Bella's scent back to her house. I need you two to patrol until Tanya returns."

"Sure thing Major," Peter agreed.

Jasper held out his hand and I handed the keys over. He opened the passenger door for me. Once I was inside, he went to the driver's side. "Your emotions are all over the place," he said as we left the parking lot.

"Those are your friends?" I asked ignoring his statement.

"Yes, they are," Jasper confirmed. "Peter's a bit like Emmett. He thinks he's funny. But I can say for certain I wouldn't be alive without those two. They are no threat to you Bella, if that's what you're worried about."

"Why did Peter call you Major?" I questioned.

Jasper chuckled. "I wondered if you were going to catch that. When I was human, I was the youngest Major in the Confederate Army." My jaw dropped. I had no idea how old he was. "I found a woman, Maria, I thought she needed help. She turned me. It turned out she was creating an army of newborns. I was her right hand. I created newborns and once their newborn phase was over, I disposed of them. Peter and Charlotte were two of the vampires I turned. But when I came time, I couldn't kill them, so I let them escape."

"That's why Tanya put you in charge," I realized. "I wondered, Tanya was so focused on doing everything herself. Then you showed up and she let you run everything. It was strange."

Jasper laughed. "Yes, she is well aware of my history. She may like being in charge but she knows I am our best chance at beating the newborns."

Jasper pulled into the driveway. "You fed on humans then, didn't you?"

"I did," he confirmed. "It wasn't until I met Alice that I learned there was another way. It is also why my control is so weak compared to the others. I spent a little over a century feeding when I wanted, on whoever I wanted."

"You're too hard on yourself," I told him. "You spent a century feeding on humans and only half that time trying to overcome that. No one should expect you to be perfect. I'm sure even Tanya, Kate and Irina slip up from time to time."

"Well that's not entirely true," Jasper said with a laugh. "I don't think they've slipped in hundreds of years."

"Why didn't Tanya lose control when she had human blood?" I wanted to know.

"It's hard to say for sure," he said as she pulled into my driveway. "I think it's a mixture of practice, the fact that she didn't have much blood and her focus on you that helped her stay in control." He turned to face me. "She can't hurt you Bella. Even in the worst blood lust, she could never hurt you. Come on, I'll help you cook." I stared at him. "I can follow directions."

Jasper dumped the groceries onto the table. It seemed, like humans, vampires did not enjoy making more than one trip to the car for groceries. "Thanks," I told him.

"What do you need me to do?" he questioned.

"Um, what can you do?" I asked him.

Jasper laughed. "I know the basics Bella," he answered. "Just don't expect me to taste anything."

I laughed along with him. "Alright. Turn the oven on. You can make the brownies."

"Yes, Chef Swan," Jasper said saluting me. He paused halfway through making the brownies. "Have you ever thought about what you want to do in the future?"

I dropped the knife I was holding. "I haven't really thought about it in a while," I admitted. "When I was with Edward all I wanted was to be a vampire. Now, I still want to be a vampire but I don't know… Maybe I want to go to school and have a career."

"We could help with that," Jasper offered. I turned to look at him. "We've attended most of the Ivy League schools. We could help you prepare for the exams. That mixed with some donations with guarantee you entrance."

"I don't want to rely on you guys to get me into school," I told him. It was a tempting offer but if I couldn't do it on my own then what was the point.

"There's nothing wrong with getting some help," Jasper said. "But if you want to do it on your own, I can respect that. That doesn't mean I won't help you prepare, once you figure out where you want to go."

Where I wanted to go. There was the biggest problem. Where did I want to go? A year ago I would have said it didn't matter, as long as I was with Edward. Now… now things were different. Tanya and her family lived in Alaska. That wouldn't be my first choice to live. It was far too cold there for my liking. But it was cloudy, exactly what they needed.

"Tanya would follow you anywhere," Jasper said. "They may live in Alaska but it doesn't mean they have to stay there. Don't chose Alaska just because you think that's what she wants. Choose what you want."

"Thanks Jasper," I said before returning to what I was doing.

While I made dinner, Jasper finished making the brownies. Every once in a while, I would check to make sure he didn't mess it up but it turned out he followed directions well. "Brownies are in the oven," he announced.

"Great. I have the steaks marinating." I gestured toward the bags with the steaks in them. "Once the brownies are done, I can get the potatoes in the oven." I looked around the room. "Are they not coming inside?"

"No, they are patrolling," Jasper said. He cocked his head to the side. "They will come in if you want, but they don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"They don't make me uncomfortable," I protested.

Jasper shook his head. "You may believe that. But I can feel your emotions. You're scared of them."

"It's not them," I said slowly. "It's the eyes. The red. They remind me of James… and Victoria."

Jasper nodded in understanding. "Your experience with vampires hasn't been the best. There's nothing wrong with being scared. Honestly when we first saw you, I thought there was something wrong with you because you weren't scared of us." I laughed. He wasn't the first to say that about me. "My point is, not all vampires are the same. Most of them are bad. But some of them are actually good, like Peter and Charlotte."

"Why do they feed on humans then?" I questioned. I dropped the dish towel. The dishes could wait.

"Human blood makes us stronger," Jasper said slowly. "They were weak for so long, thanks to Maria. They don't want to feel like that again. If it wasn't for my gift I would probably still feed on humans. But I don't, because I feel their pain." He sat down at the table. "They only feed on murderers and rapists."

"So it's better to feed on human blood," I muttered. "And with the newborns…"

"Bella no," Jasper said. "I know what you're thinking."

I looked down. I felt guilty for what I was thinking. I wanted to convince them to drink human blood, so they have better chance of surviving. It was terrible thing to think. I was willing to sacrifice innocent people in order to protect Tanya and her family.

"I… I'm sorry," I muttered.

Jasper pulled me into his arms. "Don't feel bad Bella. If I were in your shoes and it was Alice, I would be thinking the same thing. But it would be wrong. No matter how much we want to protect them, this lifestyle is their choice. We can't change that and we shouldn't try."

I leaned against his shoulder. He was almost as comfortable as Tanya. "You're right," I muttered.

Once the cooking was done Jasper cleaned up the kitchen while I ate. The extra plate for Charlie was covered in foil and placed in the microwave. I left a note on the counter so he would know there was food. Jasper promised to make sure Charlie saw the note.

"So, what's next?" Jasper asked sitting in the chair across for me.

I shrugged. "You did everything else I needed to do," I told him.

He leaned back. "Well, we could spend some time with Peter and Charlotte, or just Charlotte if you prefer," he suggested. I hesitated. I wasn't sure how I felt about seeing them again. "Or not. They won't be offended if you don't want to see them."

"No, it's fine," I said. "Can we start with Charlotte though?" Charlotte reminded me a bit of Irina. That seemed much easier to deal with than Peter.

"Of course, Bella," he said. His lips moved again but no words came out. Seconds later there was a knock on the door.

Jasper followed me to the front door. I already knew it was Charlotte but I was still surprised to see the red eyes staring at me when the door opened.

"Hello Bella," Charlotte greeted with a grin. She turned her attention to Jasper. "Major."

"Charlotte," he said with a nod.

"Come inside," I said stepping aside to let her in.

"Thanks for letting me come Bella," Charlotte said. "I'm sorry about Peter. I told him not to do it but he was convinced it would be funny. He doesn't seem to understand that just because you're okay with vampires doesn't mean you don't get scared."

"Thank you," I said unsure what to say. "Do you want…" I blushed. "Um, never mind."

I glanced at Jasper and he was smiling slightly. "Relax Bella, you're overthinking everything."

Jasper and Charlotte followed me to my room. Charlotte sat at the desk while Jasper sat at the edge of the bed. "So Bella, how on Earth did you get mixed up with vampires?" Charlotte asked.

I blushed. "I um… dated Jasper's brother, Edward," I began.

Charlotte looked at Jasper. "Where is he? If he started this mess why is he not helping?"

"He left," I told her. "Months ago, and he hasn't come back. He said he would never come back."

"Sounds like we need to have a talk with Carlisle," Charlotte said with a sigh. "Letting a human know about us and then abandoning her…" she shook her head. "If Edward had just dealt with this vampire when he killed her mate none of this would have happened."

"I know." He looked to me. "You will never know how sorry I am for going against my instinct to end Victoria."

I scooted over so I could hug him. "I don't blame you. I never blamed you. I saw you that day when you and Alice took me to Phoenix. You wanted to hunt her too."

"I did, but I let Carlisle talk me out of it. He convinced me to give her a chance and I will regret that for the rest of my existence," Jasper said sadly. He squeezed my arm.

"I can see it now," Charlotte said. I jumped at the sound of her voice. I had almost forgotten about her. "I wondered how Tanya could be mated to a human. I have nothing against humans, but it's strange for a vampire to be mated to one. But now, now I see it. You're caring and you seem unaffected by your closeness to vampires."

I shrugged. Being close to vampires didn't bother me, unlike most people. The only thing that bothered me was the vampires that tried to kill me. I yawned. It was a busy day, meeting new vampires, vampires that didn't want to kill me for a change.

"You should sleep Bella," Jasper said standing up. "Tanya will be by soon."

"It's still early," I protested. "I want to see Charlie when he gets home." I checked the time. It was 8:00pm. If Alice was right, and she usually was, Charlie would be home in twelve minutes.

Jasper nodded. "Alright." He turned to Charlotte. "Can you run the perimeter? I want an update before Charlie returns."

"Yes Major," Charlotte agreed before disappearing out of the window.

"I'm going to get ready to for bed, while I wait for Charlie," I told him.

Jasper laid on my bed and closed his eyes. "I'll wait here for you," he said. "I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not leaving. Not until Tanya returns. I will not leave you unprotected."

I didn't say anything. There was no point in arguing with him. I had tried and it never worked. I quickly grabbed my pajamas and went into the bathroom. Normally, when Tanya was here, I would rush through my nightly routine so I could go back to my room. Tonight, however, I took my time. By the time I was rinsing the mouthwash out I could hear the front door open and close.

I ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs, tripping once I hit the bottom step. Charlie caught me before I hit the ground. "Bella," he said surprised. "What's wrong?"

I steadied myself. "Nothing's wrong. I heard you come home. Did you find anything?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Charlie hung up his hat and jacket. "No, no sign of the Biers boy anywhere. I'm starting to think we won't find him."

As sad as it was, I was happy he was starting to realize that. The sooner he gave up, the better. "I'm sorry. I made dinner. It's in the microwave for you. Do you want me to heat it up?"

Charlie perked up at that. "That would be great Bells. I'm going to take a quick shower."

While Charlie went upstairs to shower, I headed to the kitchen to warm his plate of food. Before I got to the kitchen Jasper was waiting for me. His eyes black. "Wha—"

Jasper pressed a finger to my lips. "I smell a vampire on your father," he whispered in my ear. "I don't know if they are listening, or nearby." My whole body tensed up. "I need to talk to Carmen and Eleazar."

"Go," I urged him.

He shook his head. "I can't leave, not until Tanya returns. But I need Peter. Will you be okay with that?" I nodded. If it meant protecting Charlie then I could deal with Peter. "I'll wait until you're upstairs to call him."

Jasper disappeared and Charlie came down the stairs a minute later. I placed the now warm plate of food on the table along with a glass of milk. "This looks delicious Bells," Charlie commented.

"Thanks," I said embarrassed. "I wanted you to have a good meal when you got home. Is there anything else you need?" Charlie shook his head. "I'm going to head to bed then. Goodnight."

Charlie swallowed a mouthful of food. "Goodnight Bella," he said as I left the room.

Jasper was in the same spot I had originally left him in. Jasper glanced at me and I nodded. "Peter," he called.

There was a slight breeze and Peter appeared on the opposite side of the room from me. "Major, Bella," he greeted. This Peter was different, more serious. It made me nervous.

"You heard," Jasper said. It seemed more for my benefit.

"I did Major. Alice is following up with Carmen and Eleazar," Peter informed us. "If a vampire was near him, he didn't mean Charlie any harm. Otherwise Alice would have seen it."

I frowned. "Why can't she see vampires going near him?"

"She can't see everything," Jasper said patiently. "She's already watching too much. She's bound to miss something. This vampire didn't mean your father harm. That much is certain. Alice would have seen that."

"Perhaps it's a test," Peter said thoughtfully. Jasper and I turned to him.

"Elaborate," Jasper commanded.

"Victoria, she's managed to get around Alice's visions, correct?" Jasper nodded. "Perhaps this is Victoria's way of testing just how far she can go without us knowing." Peter growled and it took all my willpower not to flinch. "The bitch is smart."

Jasper sighed. "Now more than ever we need to find her and end this."

There was another gust of wind and I found myself wrapped in Tanya's arms. I sighed in relief. She glanced at Peter and nodded slightly. "We will go," Peter decided. He turned to me. "You will be safe Bella. I promise."

Jasper and Peter disappeared out the window.


	13. Chapter 13

"How was your afternoon with Jasper?" Tanya asked after tucking me into bed. It was ridiculous being tucked in but at the same time it was kind of nice.

"It was fine," I said. She climbed into the bed with me and I immediately leaned against her. She was my favorite pillow. "Peter and Charlotte seem nice."

Tanya tensed up against me. "Yes, Alice mentioned Peter's little prank."

"Don't be mad," I said touching her face. "He didn't know."

"It doesn't matter," she disagreed. "He scared you."

I sighed. Overprotective vampires were frustrating. I loved that she cared enough to be angry over someone upsetting me but still… it was a wonder anyone was still alive here. "Just, don't hurt him, please. We need him, remember?"

Tanya pulled me closer. "I have no intention of hurting him Bella. I promise."

I studied Tanya's face. It felt like there was something she was hiding, something she didn't want me to know. "What's going on?" I asked after a minute. "What are you hiding?"

Tanya ran her fingers down the side of my face. "Alice and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best time to confront the newborns and we figured it out…" she paused. "The battle will be a week from Saturday."

My stomach dropped. A week. I wasn't expecting that. Honestly, I didn't know what I expected. We couldn't wait forever for the battle but a week was too soon. "I…" I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. That meant I may only have a week with some of them.

"Bella, breathe," Tanya instructed. "Nothing is going to happen to us."

"Did Alice see that?" I asked.

"No," Tanya admitted. "She can't see around the wolves. But we are all confident. Alice and I came up with a plan and tonight we will be talking to the wolves about it. I would like you to be there, as it is about you."

I frowned. "What time?" I asked.

"Two in the morning," Tanya answered. "Do you want to go?" I nodded. "Sleep Bella. I'll wake you before we need to go."

Far too soon Tanya was shaking me awake. "Bella, it's time."

I groaned and rolled over, right on top of Tanya. "It's too early," I muttered sleepily.

Tanya laughed and kissed my cheek. "That's the point. Do you want to stay?"

"No," I said climbing off my bed.

I quickly changed my clothes, too tired to realize Tanya was still in the room and watching me. When I turned around Tanya's eyes were dark gold. "We need to go," Tanya said after closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, they were back to light gold.

"I'm ready," I said after throwing my jacket on.

She secured me in her arms and we were gone. I didn't open my eyes until the wind stopped. When I did open my eyes, I saw everyone was gathered together. Sam and a slightly smaller boy were huddled with the other wolves. Peter and Charlotte were talking to Alice and Jasper. The Denali's were close by but none of them appeared to be talking.

"Bella," Irina said running over to my side. "How are you?"

"Tired," I answered with a yawn.

Irina laughed. "Yes, I suppose you are. Are you nervous?"

"Always," I replied.

Irina hugged me. "Don't be. We have this. We wouldn't be planning our attack if Tanya and Alice weren't confident that we would be successful."

I didn't get a chance to respond as Jasper took that moment to start talking. "I know ya'll are wondering why you're here," Jasper said addressing the wolves. "Alice and Tanya were talking last night." He paused. "The battle with the newborns will be a week from Saturday."

The wolves growled. "Why so soon? We are not ready," Sam called loudly.

"I cannot see around you and your pack," Alice began. "But I have seen a future where my family lives."

Another wolf phased into a human. "What about our lives?" the wolf sneered. "If we go through with this plan, we could all be dead."

"Paul," Sam said in warning.

"I may not be able to see your future but I know none of you die," Alice continued, ignoring Paul. "Bella cares about all of you. I haven't seen her mourn you in the future. I take that as a good sign that you all survive."

Sam nodded and pushed Paul away. "Let's hear your plan then."

Tanya kissed my cheek and stepped forward. "This will be where the battle takes place."

"Here?" I whispered. "But Charlie…"

"Charlie will be fine," Alice promised.

"Dad and Billy can take him fishing," the smaller boy offered. Sam turned to him. "Seth Clearwater," he introduced. "My dad is Harry."

I nodded. Harry was a nice guy. "Would that work?" I asked Alice.

Alice closed her eyes. "Yes. I see him going fishing." She opened her eyes. "It will work," she said confidently.

Seth nodded and stepped back. "I'll tell my Dad as soon as we finish here."

"There is something else we need from the wolves," Tanya began. "More specifically you, Sam. If you're willing."

Sam walked over to Tanya and I. "What is it?" he asked curious.

"Jasper came up with an idea," Tanya started. Jasper walked toward us, most likely to explain his idea. "Go ahead."

"These are newborns which means they will be attracted to human scent more so than a vampire that has been around for a while," Jasper said. "I want to use Bella's scent to lure the newborns here, with Bella's permission of course."

"Why would Bella's scent matter? And what does this have to do with me?" Sam questioned. I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't a fan of this idea. Tanya, on the other hand, didn't look concerned.

"We would never let Bella do this alone," Jasper continued. "Tanya would be with her. If older vampires are with them then they may realize that this is a trap. Our hope is your… scent," he wrinkled his nose in disgust, "will mask Tanya's scent."

"Won't that cover Bella's scent as well?" Sam asked curious.

Jasper shook his head. "There is nothing that can mask a human's scent, especially if human blood is present." So, Jasper wanted me to make a blood trail for the newborns. The idea wasn't as gross now as it would have been a year ago. "Our hope is a newborn won't get too close to your scent and pick up Tanya's."

Sam nodded. So far, he seemed to like the plan. "Where will she be during this battle? Will you leave her at home or somewhere else?"

"You will be taking her to a cabin about twenty miles from here," Tanya continued. "We mapped it out so we can keep Bella's scent away from newborns. I will meet you there with supplies."

"You're not fighting," Sam realized.

"No, I'm not," Tanya confirmed. "Bella doesn't want me to fight." I looked down, feeling guilty once again for pulling Tanya away from her family. Jasper squeezed my shoulder. "Besides, I would rather be close to her in case something happens."

"Smart. I have one suggestion, if you're willing." Jasper and Tanya exchanged looks and nodded. "Seth, he's young. I don't want him in the fight." I glanced at Seth and he didn't seem happy with Sam's words. "Take him with you. He will give you added protection should something happen. Plus, he is connected to the pack. It will keep us all informed on what is going on."

Tanya looked to me. I shrugged. Seth was young and like Sam, I didn't want him to be a part of this fight. I didn't want him risking his life for me. On the other hand, the thought of being alone with Tanya in the middle of the woods was appealing.

"Having him there wouldn't be a bad thing," Alice suggested. I frowned. "Tanya and Bella will be fine that night. Have Seth show up in the morning. We can send more supplies with him if needed."

Sam turned to Seth. "I got it Sam," Seth said though he still didn't seem happy about missing out on the fight. It must have been a wolf thing.

I yawned and leaned against Tanya. "We're almost done," she whispered in my ear.

"I'll have Tanya contact you when I get a better idea of what time," Alice told Sam. "For now, all I can say is be ready."

The next thing I knew I was laying in bed with Tanya beside me, reading a book.

"What happened?" I asked.

Tanya sat the book down. "You fell asleep. I brought you home."

I turned to face her. "What time is it?"

"Just after five," Tanya answered. "I was going to let you sleep a bit longer. How are you doing with everything you learned?"

I shrugged. "Will my blood help?"

"It will," Tanya confirmed. "The newborns won't be able to focus on anything but your blood. It will make it easier to kill them."

"I'll do it," I decided. If it helped protect my family then I would do anything.

"Whatever you are planning Bella, stop," Tanya said firmly. "There will be no sacrificing yourself to protect us."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I didn't say anything about that."

Tanya cupped my cheek. "Jasper and Alice told me about Phoenix, about how you ran away from them to save your mother. I know you want to keep us safe but it's our job to take care of you. Not the other way around." I didn't say anything because I knew she was right.

My eyes darted back and forth between Tanya's eyes and her lips. I don't know what came over me. I leaned forward and pressed my lips against her. Tanya was frozen against me. I wasn't sure if it was from surprise or not.

I pulled away. This was a mistake. I shouldn't have kissed her. I tried to get out of bed, so I could shower and forget this happened. Before I could Tanya flipped us over so she was on top of me. She kissed me. Her cool lips moved against mine. She wasn't afraid, not like Edward had been. She knew exactly how much strength to use without hurting me. My hands went to her hair, pulling her closer.

Far too soon Tanya pulled away. "You have school Bella," she reminded me. I took several deep breathes to get my breathing back on track. She climbed off me and back into her original spot. "Not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I was thinking about the newborns and how if something happened… I didn't want to die never kissing you."

"You're not going to die Bella," Tanya said softly. "I won't allow it."

I climbed out of bed and got my things so I could shower. I was grateful for the shower. It gave me time to think. I knew I was destined to be with Tanya. I was her mate. It was inevitable that we would be together. Despite that, I never really thought about it until tonight. Now I was curious about our relationship, about what it meant for both of us. I did know I enjoyed kissing her and I did want to do it again.

"Bella," Tanya called, knocking on the bathroom door. "You've been in here a while. Are you okay?"

I shut the water off. "I'll be out in a minute," I said.

The door opened slightly. "Charlie left already. You'd better hurry or you'll be late for school." The door was shut before I could say anything.

I hurried and got ready for school. Tanya seemed… almost distant now. I was worried I did something wrong. Maybe I wasn't what she wanted. I opened the door and found Tanya standing in front of me.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Alice," she added in explanation. "She saw a conversation and told me to fix it. You didn't do anything. I don't want to pressure you into anything and I don't want you to feel obligated to be with me. I want you to have a choice in this."

I stepped toward her. She didn't move. I half-expected her to. "I know." I cupped her cheek and she leaned into the touch. "I never thought you were pressuring me. I kissed you because I wanted to, not because I thought I had to."

Tanya nodded. "Okay." She leaned over and kissed me. "You need to get to school."

I grabbed my school things and followed Tanya to her car. Thanks to vampire driving I got to school just before the first bell. I kissed Tanya's cheek and jumped out of the car, stumbling only once.

Seven hours later and I was done. School seemed pointless right now with the battle coming. I couldn't concentrate on anything other than the newborns. When I wasn't thinking about newborns I was thinking about Tanya and the feel of her lips on mine. Which meant I accomplished nothing all day.

Tanya's car was in the parking lot when I got there. I climbed into the passenger side. "How was school?" Tanya asked.

"I don't know," I said honestly. Tanya raised an eyebrow at me. "I wasn't paying attention."

Tanya laughed. "Did something distract you?"

"My impending death," I said without thinking. Tanya tightened her grip on the steering wheel. I could see dents forming. I grabbed her hand. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I was also thinking about you, about this morning."

Tanya relaxed and laced her fingers with mine. She kissed the back of my hand. "We will protect you."

"I know." I leaned back and in my seat. "I've had nightmares about Victoria. Every time she gets me"

Tanya squeezed my hand. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't want you to worry," I said honestly. "I know you're doing everything in your power to keep me safe. I didn't want you to think I don't trust you."

Tanya pulled into my driveway. "I know you trust me. You don't have to keep things from me to protect me. I can handle it."

I nodded. "Sorry. Do you think Victoria will show up with the newborns?"

I followed Tanya into my house. "I don't think so," Tanya said slowly. "She won't get her hands dirty. She knows she can't win against us, not without her gift."

"What's the point then?" I wondered. "If she's not going to fight then what's the point of having the newborns."

"It's a distraction," Tanya said. "My guess is she's going to try and find you. Jasper thinks she will have back up with her, something to distract whoever is protecting you. Or maybe she thinks we left you alone during this."

I tensed up. Odds are Victoria would still find me. I knew Tanya would protect me. I feared she would get herself killed in the process. "Seth," I gasped. "Is he going to be in danger?"

Tanya sat on my bed and pulled me into her arms. "Jasper is giving him special training. Training on fighting older vampires. Sam approved. We don't think Seth will need it but it makes him feel important and it doesn't hurt him to learn."

I didn't like it. I didn't like the thought of Seth risking his life for me. "Can't we keep him away?" I asked.

Tanya shook her head. "No. We need him. Even if it is just a precaution. He will be our connection to the others, in case something happens."

I had a nagging feeling that something was bad going to happen.


	14. Chapter 14

One day.

That's how long we had until the newborns came. One day.

As we got closer and closer to the day, I got more and more scared. It was close, too close. In less than an hour Tanya would be picking me up so we could set the blood trail for the newborns to follow. Charlie had left more than an hour ago to go fishing with Billy and Harry.

Right now, I was packing a bag for my stay with Tanya in the cabin. I wasn't sure what to pack, just that I needed to dress warm. According to Alice's vision there would be snow. Lucky for me the cabin had a fireplace.

"You should go for the lingerie Alice hid in your drawer," Kate said from behind me.

I turned around and found Kate sitting in my rocking chair. "How did you know about that?" I asked blushing.

"I helped Alice pick it out," she said with a shrug. Of course, I should have known Kate was involved in picking out lingerie.

"Why were either of you picking out lingerie for me?"

"Alice had a vision, or potential vision of what could happen tonight," Kate explained. I blushed.

"Does she really have to check that?" I whined. I did not miss the invasion of privacy.

Kate scooted to the edge of the bed. "She was not looking for that Bella," Kate assured me. "She's been checking your future several times a day to make sure you're okay. She was checking to make sure nothing happened to you tonight and she happened to see it."

"Why this then?" I held up a black, lace set of lingerie that left little to the imagination.

Kate shrugged. "She wants to help." She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the bed beside her. "I know you're nervous Bella. I don't need Jasper's gift to see that. You're overthinking this. Tanya loves you more than anything. She will never pressure you into anything. But you need to talk to her. Voice your concerns."

I leaned on Kate. "Thanks Kate," I said.

I wasn't sure how I felt, or what I wanted to do tonight. I had plenty of time to figure it out. Kate was right. All I had to do was talk to Tanya. I trusted Tanya. I trusted her more than I trusted anyone. I knew she would never do anything to hurt me.

"Are you nervous, about using your blood to attract the newborns?" Kate asked. "Alice said blood used to freak you out."

"Blood hasn't bothered me since they left," I said honestly. My fingers lightly traced the scars on my arms. "I just… I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable."

"Jasper and Laurent are the only ones that would be affected," Kate said. "They will keep away from it but Alice doesn't think it's necessary. Both of them care more about you than they do your blood. That alone will keep their bloodlust under control."

"How are you and the wolves getting along?" I asked curious.

"We get along fine," Kate said with a shrug. "That one wolf, Paul, he seems to really hate us. But the rest of them… they're not so bad. Besides, if they're willing to risk their lives for you, then that's good enough for me."

"You'd let them die?" I questioned. I hoped not. I leaned against Kate.

"No, I will do what I can to make sure they survive," Kate said. "But if it's between you and one of them… you already know who I will pick. It's the same for them. They will choose their mate over one of us every time. It's how it should be. There's nothing more important than our mate, and our family."

"I was thinking about going to the University of Alaska when I graduated," I confessed.

Kate pulled away to look at me. "Is that what you want or what you think Tanya wants?"

I shrugged. "Does it matter?" She stared at me. "I want to go to college. But I don't know where I want to go. Alaska seems like a good choice. Plus, it's close to you guys."

"You hate the cold," Kate pointed out.

"How do you know that?" I asked. I don't remember mentioning that.

"Alice mentioned you hate the cold," Kate answered. "Have you told Tanya about this?"

"No." I still wasn't sure about Alaska and I needed to start filling out the application before I told Tanya. I didn't even know if I would get accepted to the University of Alaska. There was no need to get her hopes up for something that may not come true.

"Do you want my advice?" Kate questioned. I nodded. "Don't tell her unless you're one hundred percent sure that's what you want. Tanya will go anywhere you want. It doesn't have to be Alaska. Don't pick something to make her happy." Kate patted my knee. "Come on, finish packing. Tanya will be here soon."

I quickly finished my packing. I threw the lingerie into the bag though I wasn't sure if I would wear it. While I finished up Kate lounged on my bed, reading Wuthering Heights. "Why do you love this book so much?" she called while I was in the bathroom.

I walked back to my room with a handful of toiletries. "I don't love it anymore," I said. I hadn't read it since Edward left. "It used to be my favorite. I used to read it a lot when I was with Edward. I used to compare myself to Cathy."

Kate frowned. "That doesn't sound healthy."

I shrugged. After this time with Tanya I realized nothing about my time with Edward was healthy, including my thoughts. "I've moved on to better things."

Kate grinned. "Exactly. Now you're a Denali."

Once the toiletries were packed, I sat my bag by the door. I was all ready to go. All I needed was Tanya. Sam would meet us in the clearing and take me to the cabin. Tanya would meet us there.

"Alright, I'm going," Kate said climbing off my bed. "Tanya will be here in a minute. I'm meeting the others to go hunting." She pulled me into her arms. "You'll be fine Bella. Don't stress out too much." She pulled away to study my face. "Seriously Bella, enjoy tonight. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow." She kissed my cheek and disappeared out my window.

I wasn't alone for long. Within second of Kate leaving, Tanya had shown up. "Hello Miláčik," Tanya greeted. "Are you ready?"

"What does Miláčik mean?" I asked curious. I winced at my poor pronunciation.

"It's Slovak, my native tongue, it means darling," Tanya answered.

"I remember, I remember you saying that when you first met me," I said. I didn't realize what she said at the time.

"I did," Tanya confirmed. She pulled me into her arms and kissed me. "I knew, even then, what you meant to me. I love you Miláčik."

"I love you too," I said. And I meant it. I wasn't sure at first, what I felt. But now I knew. I knew that I loved her.

Tanya kissed me again. "Come on. We need to go." She pulled me into her arms and we disappeared out the window. "You're handling the running much better."

"It's easy with you," I said, laying my head on her shoulder. "I don't feel sick."

We stopped not too far from the clearing. She sat me down and pulled a small pocket knife out. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked me. I nodded. She gently pricked my finger. I watched as the blood oozed out from the small cut.

I pulled my hand away and wiped some blood on a leaf. "Is this enough?" I questioned. It didn't seem like it was enough.

"All you need is a drop love," Tanya said.

She held my hand as we walked down the path. Every few feet I was let blood drip onto the leaves or the tree. An hour had passed before we made it to the clearing. "Is that it?" I asked.

Tanya grabbed my bloody hand. "That's it," she confirmed. She pulled a zip lock from her pocket. In the bag was a band aid and alcohol wipes to clean the wound. It seemed Tanya came prepared. She pulled the alcohol wipe out and carefully cleaned the small cut.

"This isn't needed," I told her.

"I know," Tanya said with a small smile. With the wound now clean, Tanya applied the band aid. "I want to."

"It's strange seeing a vampire so unaffected by my blood," I noted.

"I've never been affected by your blood," Tanya started. "Oh, you mean Edward?"

"Not just Edward, all of the Cullens. I got a papercut and they couldn't control themselves. But with you, and your family, I've bled all over and nothing."

"We don't hide from our nature Bella," Tanya said patiently. "That's the difference between us and the Cullens. They try too hard to pretend they're human."

"Sorry I'm late," Sam called jogging over to our side. "I had to talk to the Counsel before coming."

"You're right on time Sam," Tanya told him. Tanya kissed me and stepped away to allow Sam to scoop me up into his arms. "Do you know where to go?" Sam nodded. "Good, I'll be there soon. I have to make a stop first. Take care of her."

"She'll be safe with me," Sam promised. Sam looked at me. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," I said hesitantly. I had never run with one of the wolves before. I was a little worried it would make me nauseous.

"Don't worry Bella. I'm not as fast as Tanya so you shouldn't get sick. I can go slower if that will help," he offered.

"I'm fine," I said though I wasn't entirely sure if that was true. But I really wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Running with Sam was not as bad as I expected. He was fast but not as fast as Tanya. He was also not as graceful as Tanya. Still, I didn't get sick and that was what mattered to me. He slowed to a walk once we got closer to the cabin.

"She's not here yet," Sam said sniffing the air. "I'm going to stay with you until she comes, if that's okay."

"That's fine," I said as he sat me down.

The door to the cabin was unlocked. We stepped inside. It was a small cabin. There was no dining room. Just a small kitchen with an island and a living room with a fireplace and a couch. Off to the right was the bathroom. To the left was a bedroom with a king size bed, a night stand with a lamp and a dresser. There were no TVs but that didn't bother me. I wasn't a huge fan of TV.

Sam disappeared while I wandered around the cabin. The cabin itself wasn't new but the furniture and appliances inside were new. It made me wonder how Tanya found this cabin.

I jumped when the door slammed shut. Sam was standing there with a handful of wood. "Sorry Bella," he said. "Thought I would get a fire going for you. It's supposed to be cold tonight."

"Thanks Sam." I did appreciate his thoughtfulness. I figured as soon as we got here, he would leave. But instead he was staying until Tanya came.

Ten minutes later Sam looked proud of himself. It seemed to be a little touch and go for a while. Some of the wood was damp from a previous storm so it took time to get the fire lit. Sam stepped back and admired his handiwork.

A knock at the door startled me. Sam tensed up. He sniffed the air and relaxed. "It's Tanya," he said relived.

I threw the door open and launched myself at her. She attempted to hug me but it was difficult considering she was holding multiple bags.

"Hello Miláčik," Tanya greeted. She looked at Sam and the roaring fire. She dropped the bags just inside the door. "Thank you, Sam. I appreciate everything you have done for us."

Sam nodded. "Seth will be here at first light. Until then you're on your own. If something does happen call and the pack will come."

"Carmen and Eleazar bought everything you will need," Tanya said. I frowned. What was she talking about? "Unfortunately, they don't know much about carpentry. That was more Esme's specialty."

"The tribe is grateful for your help," Sam said. "Paul will know what to do. This will go a long way to help our tribe."

"What's going on?" I asked.

Sam turned to me. "Some of the houses in La Push are starting to fall apart. The tribe is too poor to buy the materials needed to help our people. Tanya overheard a conversation and bought everything we needed."

I was surprised by how thoughtful Tanya was. I knew she had unlimited money and was close to Sam but to pay for their remodeling was far more than I ever expected. I moved closer to her and kissed her.

Sam coughed from his position next to the fireplace. "I'll just go now," he said before sneaking out of the house.

"Not that I'm complaining but what was that for?" Tanya questioned.

"What you're doing for the wolves is amazing," I told her. I was certain the Cullens would never do anything like this. Maybe Alice and Jasper if I had asked them. The others definitely not.

She touched my cheek. "They are risking their lives to protect you," she said softly. "This is the least I can do." She leaned forward and kissed me. "Are you hungry?" My stomach chose that moment to growl. She laughed. "I take that as a yes." She pulled away and grabbed the many bags that were on the floor.

"What's in the bags?" I asked. I recognized my bag but not the others.

"Food," Tanya answered. "You need to eat. So, I got salmon, asparagus and potatoes. Does that sound okay?"

"It sounds great," I said honestly.

"Good, I've been reading recipes but I may need your help," she said.

I grabbed one of the bags from her. "Let's get started."


	15. Chapter 15

Cooking with Tanya was strangely domestic. It was something I wasn't used to when dating vampires. It was nice having her in the kitchen with me. She was good at following instructions.

"How did you find this cabin?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

"I was hunting," Tanya answered. "Came across this cabin. It was abandoned when I found it but I fixed it up and here we are."

"I like it," I said.

She kissed me. "I'm glad you do. I didn't realize how handy it would be when I first found it."

I put the salmon in the oven. "We have about fifteen minutes and it will be done. Are you going to need to hunt before tomorrow?"

"No. I hunted before I got you. I'll be fine till after the battle," she assured me.

"Is that what the others are doing tonight?" I questioned.

"Yes, they're all hunting tonight," she said. "I went earlier so I didn't have to leave you alone."

"Do you think Victoria will try something tonight?" I wondered.

Tanya shook her head. "No, we're all confident she will wait until tomorrow, when everyone is distracted by the newborns. That's assuming she tries anything at all. She may not since we have so many on our side."

Tanya pulled me to the couch. "I want to go to college," I told her after a few minutes of silence.

"College," Tanya repeated. "I figured as much since you started putting so much effort into your schooling. Why are you telling me this?"

I pulled away from her so I could see her reaction. "Because I don't know where I want to go, and when I do decide, I don't know if it will be Alaska," I said honestly.

"Bella," Tanya sighed. "It doesn't matter where you go. I will still follow you. You should pick somewhere you want to go."

"That's what Kate said," I told her.

"Kate can be smart sometimes," Tanya said. I laughed. She did have her moments. "Stop worrying about making everyone happy Bella. Do what makes you happy."

The timer went off and I jumped up to get the salmon out of the oven. Before I got make it to the kitchen Tanya was already up and serving the food. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and followed Tanya back to the living room.

Tanya patiently waited for me to eat. We didn't talk. There really wasn't a need to talk. The silence was oddly comforting. The closer I got to finishing my food the more nervous I was. I wasn't sure why. There was no pressure of any kind for tonight. But the thought of the lingerie Alice picked out was at the forefront of my mind.

"How do you feel about sex?" I blurted out.

Whatever Tanya expected me to say, this was not it. I imagine if she was human, she would be blushing. "I happen to like sex," she said. I blushed. "But that's not what you wanted to know."

"Do you think about us like that?" I questioned.

Tanya turned to face me. "Bella, what is this about?"

"It's nothing," I said quickly. Tanya raised an eyebrow at me. "It's… something Kate said."

Tanya growled. I could hear exactly what she was saying but I caught some words. "Meddlesome… idiot… sister," were among those words.

"Don't be mad at her," I said before Tanya could start threatening Kate. "In her own, Kate way, she was trying to help."

"Help how?" Tanya asked. She looked like she was plotting ways to kill her sister. I hope I had a chance to warn Kate before Tanya found her.

"She made me think." I took a deep breath. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The thought of being physical had crossed my mind once or twice but I knew Edward would never go through with it. Tanya was the one vampire that could, and would, sleep with a human.

"Bella," Tanya said softly. "What are you thinking?"

"I want to be with you," I admitted.

I closed my eyes and held my breath, waiting for her response. A minute passed by and still she hadn't said anything. I opened my eyes and found she was staring at me. "Is this what you actually want, or what you think is expected of you?"

"I… it's what I want," I answered, although I didn't sound so sure.

"Bella…" she started.

I didn't let her finish. I kissed her and straddled her lap. I wasn't great at expressing myself. But I could show her that I wanted her. I should have known I wouldn't be able to take her by surprise. "Bella." I tried to move off her lap but she held me in place. "Bella, I want to know that this is what you want. Not what you think I want from you."

"I love you," I said.

"I love you too," she said automatically. She kissed me. "That didn't tell me anything."

I sighed. She wasn't going to let this go. "I won't say I'm not scared because I am. But I love you and I want to be with you. It's not some spur of the moment decision. I've been thinking about it for a while but I didn't know how to bring it up."

"Bella, you can talk to me about anything," Tanya said. "I would never make you feel bad for wanting to talk about something like this."

"I know," I said.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Tanya asked.

"I'm sure," I said.

She wrapped her arms around me and lifted us both off the couch. She carried me to the bedroom and gently laid me on the bed. She sat up and pulled her shirt off. "Are you still sure?" Tanya asked concerned.

I sat up and took my own shirt off. I pulled her down to me and kissed her. "I'm sure."

The next morning when I woke up, I was alone in the bed. My heart pounded in my chest. Tanya was gone, and I was all alone.

Before I had a chance to panic, I felt cold arms around my naked body. "I'm here Bella," Tanya said softly.

"Sorry," I said embarrassed. "I woke up and I was alone. I thought after last night…"

"Last night was perfect," Tanya assured me. "I made you breakfast but I didn't think of how you would react if I wasn't here. I'm sorry."

I stretched my muscles. I was sore but it wasn't painful. In fact, it was barely noticeable. My stomach growled and Tanya laughed. She kissed me and disappeared out of the bedroom. She returned not even a minute later with a plate full of food.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. I climbed out of the bed and quickly put my clothes back on. I glanced at Tanya and saw she was pouting.

Once I was situated in bed, she handed me the warm plate. "What time is it?" I asked, looking around for a clock. I didn't see one.

"Just after eight," she answered.

"How long do we have?" I asked hesitantly. I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Three hours," Tanya answered reluctantly. She stared at me as if she was waiting for me to panic.

I wasn't panicking. I was nervous. But I wasn't panicking. I trusted that they would be okay. I trusted that Jasper did a good job training them. "And Seth?" I wondered.

"He's around," Tanya said. "He's been here the last hour, running the perimeter. I cooked plenty of food for him but I wanted you to be dressed before I invited him in."

"Can he hear us?" I asked. Tanya nodded. "Seth come on in."

A couple minutes passed before the front door opened. "Honey, I'm home," Seth announced.

Tanya rolled her eyes at him. "He's too cheerful."

I laughed as Seth walked into the room. "Hey Bells," he greeted. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose in disgust. I blushed. "Is that food for me?"

"Yes, it is," Tanya said. "Go eat."

Seth didn't need to be told twice. He stormed off to the kitchen. Seconds later I could hear him shoveling food into his mouth. It was pretty impressive considering I didn't have enhanced hearing.

"Come on," Tanya said taking my plate. "I may have to cook more food for him."

I followed Tanya out of the bedroom. Seth had already eaten most of the food. There were only a few pancakes left. "Still hungry?" I asked Seth. He nodded; mouth full of pancake. "I'll make more."

"Bella you need to eat," Tanya reminded me. I glanced at my half-eaten plate of food in her hand and sighed.

I took the plate from her hand and sat on the couch. Seth grabbed the plate of pancakes and sat beside me while Tanya cooked more food. "Are you nervous Bella?" Seth questioned.

"A little," I said. He stared at me. "Okay, a lot."

"Don't be. Jasper did a great job training us," Seth said. "Look, I know you're worried and I know nothing I say will change that. But you gotta trust us. We know what we're doing. While they take care of the newborns, I'll be here to take care of you and Tanya." He looked at Tanya. "I'll phase before the battle starts so I can keep tabs on what's going on. I'll phase back if I need to pass anything along."

"I appreciate what you're doing Seth," Tanya said gratefully. She wrapped her arms around me. I sat the empty plate down and leaned against her.

The closer we got to eleven the more nervous I was. My heart was pounding in my chest. I knew they were both aware of it. But they were nice enough not to comment.

Seth was back outside running around the cabin in case a newborn made their way over. Tanya thought it was unlikely to happen but it kept Seth busy.

Seth reappeared as a human. "It's clear outside," he reported. "The pack is in the clearing waiting. They can smell the newborns."

I tensed up. This was it. It was starting.

Seth glanced at the door. "Go Seth," Taya told him.

"So, it begins," I muttered.

She wrapped her arms around me. "So, it begins," she echoed.

I don't know what I expected when the battle started. We were miles away from the clearing. Not even Tanya could hear what was going on. Seth was still outside. He knew what was going on. But he didn't come inside to report. I hoped that was good news.

"Everything's fine," Tanya said kissing my cheek. "Trust that and if you can't… trust that Jasper did everything he could to prepare them."

I nodded. I trusted Jasper. I trusted that he did everything he could for them. I also trusted he would keep them safe in the clearing. It was what he did. He was a warrior, a protector.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until Tanya shook me awake. "Bella, wake up, now," Tanya hissed in my ear. She was tense. I could hear it in her voice. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?" I asked suddenly alert. I sat up and looked around. Nothing had changed.

"Victoria," Tanya spat. "I can smell her. She's nearby. Get your shoes on quickly."

I ran into the bedroom and grabbed my shoes. I tied them as quickly as possible and ran back to the living room. "What are we doing?"

"We are leaving. There is someone with her. I need to get you out of here," Tanya said in a rush.

"What about Se—" Tanya clamped a hand over my mouth and I understood. Seth was hidden away from Victoria and her companion. Tanya planned on using him and did not want Victoria to know about it.

Tanya pulled me into her arms and took off running. It took me a moment to realize we weren't heading toward the others. We were going in the opposite direction. Away from town and away from help.

Finally, we stopped. It wasn't a clearing. It was a small wooded area. "Stay behind me," Tanya instructed.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the trees. Victoria must be close. I heard the crunching of leaves before I saw anything. When the figure appeared, I expected it to be Victoria. I expected red, wild hair.

But it wasn't Victoria.

It was a man, a man I recognized as Riley Biers.


	16. Chapter 16

_This story will be ending fairly soon. Thanks for the support._

Riley Biers.

The college student my dad had been searching for. Everyone assumed he was dead. They were right. He was dead, or undead. He was a vampire, with crimson red eyes. He stalked toward us with a smirk on his face.

I stayed behind Tanya and waited. She hadn't moved. She was crouched in front of me, ready to attack. But still she hadn't made a move. From what I could tell she wasn't going to make the first move. She was waiting for him to attack first.

"I know what you want," Tanya said softly. Even next to her, I could barely hear her. I knew Riley would have no trouble. "You will never get her."

Every time Riley would move, Tanya would shift her own position so she was still directly in front of me. "Who says I want her?" Riley questioned. "I don't care about the human. Victoria wants her. I would be happy killing you."

Tanya scoffed. "I have a thousand years on you boy," Tanya snarled. "You may be young but you're nothing."

They danced around each other for several minutes. I looked around the woods, waiting for Seth or Victoria to appear. I couldn't see them.

Riley lunged just as red hair came into focus. Victoria had arrived. Tanya kicked him away so she could focus on Victoria. "I know what you want Victoria," Tanya said softly. "You're foolish if you think you will get her."

Victoria's lip curled. "I will not be denied my vengeance," she snarled.

"You want to punish Edward for killing your mate, a mate for a mate," Tanya said. "She is not Edward's mate."

"Like I care about that," Victoria scoffed. "She is the reason James is dead." I winced as Seth was thrown into a tree. "I will kill her," she screeched.

Tanya growled. "You will try and you will fail," Tanya spat.

I silently cheered as Seth threw Riley into the tree behind Victoria. Seth growled at him but Riley jumped back up and stood beside Victoria.

Seth moved to our side. He paced back and forth, waiting. I watched Tanya. She may be able to take one of them out with no trouble, but two? I wasn't sure, not when she was trying to protect me. And Seth had no experience with fighting, or killing, vampires. I had to do something.

Victoria lunged for me and Tanya collided with her in midair. With Tanya distracted Riley tried to attack. Seth grabbed him and threw him away from me.

They moved so fast I couldn't tell what was going on, or more importantly, who was winning. Seth slammed into a tree after trying to charge at Victoria. He tried to get up but couldn't.

That left Tanya to face off with two vampires. Victoria charged at Tanya. Tanya clashed with her. It was apparently a distraction as I felt cold hands on my throat seconds later. Tanya pushed Victoria away so she could face me and Riley. "Let her go," Tanya snarled.

I wasn't scared to die. I had never been scared to die. I was scared of leaving Tanya alone. I didn't want her to suffer for an eternity. She had just found her mate after a thousand years. It wasn't fair to her.

I struggled but Riley simply tightened his grip. He could snap my neck so easily but he didn't. He had another plan. His teeth grazed my neck.

I watched as Victoria took the opportunity to attack Tanya while she was distracted. I tried to warn Tanya but I couldn't. Riley's grip on my throat was too strong. I couldn't speak. I could barely breathe. Before Victoria could grab Tanya, Seth flew through the air and latched onto Victoria's neck. Tanya didn't turn to see what was going on but I watched as Victoria's head was removed from her body. Her attempt to attack Tanya when her back was turned had led to her demise.

With Victoria gone, or mostly gone, they still needed to burn the body, Seth and Tanya focused on me and Riley. "Let her go," Tanya repeated. "Victoria is dead. You have no hope."

Both Seth and Tanya lunged. I couldn't see what happened, Seth's fur blocked my view. The next thing I knew I had a searing pain in my neck and I was on the ground. Something wet dripped down my neck. It took me a second to realize Riley had bitten me. Tanya must have smelled my blood because she was by my side before I could try call for her.

"Bella," she cried. "Fuck. Seth!" Seth turned, Riley's head in his mouth. "We need the others! Are the newborns gone?"

Seth nodded. Tanya picked me up and into her arms. Seth disappeared into the woods and appeared as a human, tying the string on his shorts. He pulled a lighter from his pocket. "Go," he told Tanya. "I'll take care of this and meet you there. The other already know."

The pain in my neck was getting worse. I was barely aware of Tanya telling me to hold on. The wind as we ran did nothing for the fire in my veins. I couldn't feel the cold, despite the low temperature.

"Hold on Bella," Tanya pleaded.

It didn't take long to reach the clearing. I only noticed because the wind stopped. I could hear voices all around us. "Shit, Bella," Jasper yelled running to our side. He touched my cheek. I looked into his still gold eyes. There was no sign of the distress with my blood. Either he hadn't noticed it or simply didn't care that I was bleeding.

I heard more footsteps coming toward us. "What's going on Tanya?" Sam asked.

"Riley Biers, he bit her," Tanya answered gritting her teeth.

"She's going to need more venom," Peter said. "If you don't the change will take twice as long. It looks like he bit her just to make you angry. He had no intention of changing her."

"Do it," I choked out. The pain was getting worse and worse. I couldn't handle this for a week.

I opened my eyes to see why Tanya wasn't biting me. She was staring at Sam. "Sam," she began. "I know you have that treaty."

Sam glanced at me. "As you once pointed out, the treaty technically doesn't apply to you. Besides, she was already bit. If you can save her some of her suffering then do it."

Tanya cupped my cheek. "I'm so sorry Bella," she said. She leaned over and bit the other side of my neck. She then bit my chest, over my heart, followed by each wrist and ankle, and lastly the inside of my thighs.

"That's good Tanya," Alice said. "That's more than enough venom."

"Charlotte and I will stay and make sure the bodies are disposed of," I heard Peter say.

"Victoria and Riley are taken care of," Seth said. "They—"

I didn't hear the rest as a scream tore through me. Tanya pulled me back into her arms. "I'm going to take her back to the house and get her comfortable."

"I'll go too," Jasper volunteered. "I may be able to help with the pain."

Tanya took off running again. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming. The next thing I knew I was being laid down on a bed.

"Give me a few to clean her up," Tanya requested. I assumed she was talking to Jasper.

I didn't hear him leave. Another scream came out as Tanya removed my clothes. She washed the blood off my body. I had no idea where the cloth came from, I assumed it was Jasper. She quickly put new clothes on me and called Jasper back.

"Hey Bella," Jasper greeted. He climbed on the bed beside me as I screamed again. "This is going to be a painful process. The real pain will start in the next hour. I'm going to try and do what I can to take away the pain."

He took my hand in his and I felt a sudden wave of calm. It didn't take away the pain but it did numb it a bit. "Try to remember your family," Tanya said getting on the other side of the bed. "We typically forget about our human lives after our change. Try to hold onto those memories. Remember your mother and Charlie."

I screamed again and Jasper tightened his grip on my hand. "It will be okay Bella," he tried to reassure me. "It'll be okay. Focus on our voices."

"How is she?" a female voice asked. It was Irina.

"She's managing," Tanya replied in a tight voice.

"She'll be okay Tanya," Alice said coming into the room. "She's strong and you've pumped enough venom into her to make the change quick."

"Where are the others?" Tanya asked, stroking my hair.

Alice waited until I finished screaming before answering. "Carmen and Eleazar went to get human blood. Most of it's for Bella but also for you and Jazz."

"Alice," Jasper protested.

"You will be fine Jazz," Alice assured him. "With you using your gift to calm Bella, you need the blood. I promise you will be fine. And Tanya…"

"I'll do it," Tanya agreed. "Anything that will help Bella."

"Good. The newborns and Victoria are disposed of," Alice continued. "Sam is working with Kate and Irina to stage an accident for Bella. Peter and Charlotte grabbed some of her stuff. Not enough for it to be noticeable, but enough to keep her going until we can shop for her."

An accident. I had forgotten turning into a vampire meant I had to die. Charlie had to think I died.

"How is she Alice?" Tanya asked concerned.

"I don't know," Alice said honestly. "I see her waking up in three days. But until then. I can't see anything. She's not making decisions. We have to let your venom work its way through her system. I'm sorry I'm not more helpful."

"You've done more than enough Alice," Tanya said, stroking my hair. "I'll never be able to repay the two of you for what you've done."

There was a pause. "Actually, there is something you can do," Alice said slowly. Tanya paused her movements. "Jasper and I want to join the Denali coven."

"Are you sure?" Tanya asked, resuming stroking my hair. "When the others hear…"

"We're positive," Jasper assured her. "We have no real ties to the Cullens. We weren't changed by Carlisle. And we both love Bella. We want to stay with you guys."

"Well, officially I have to talk to the others," Tanya started. "Unofficially, welcome to the coven."


	17. Chapter 17

Time meant nothing right now. I don't know how long had passed since I first got bit. At least a day, maybe more. At least I hoped it was more than a day.

Tanya and Jasper stayed with me the entire time. Even if I couldn't see them, I could feel them both. Jasper did what he could to take away the pain. I wish I could tell him to stop. He was causing himself so much pain in the process. Same with Tanya. The human blood helped with her thirst but being here with me while I was in pain was causing her pain.

Any time someone came into the room they spoke in normal, human tones. I wasn't sure if it was for my benefit, or out of habit, but I appreciated it all the same.

"How did it go?" Tanya. Someone must have walked into the room.

"Charlie will buy it." That was Alice. They must be talking about my 'death'. "I can't see much else because of the wolves but Charlie will buy the accident. He'll be devasted, of course, but I see him living many more years."

"Good. I want Bella's father well taken care of," Tanya said. "The funeral?"

"Will be paid for, anonymously," Alice confirmed. "He'll be confused but there will be no issues. It's really the best we could hope for given the circumstances."

"What about the house?" Tanya questioned.

"Peter and Charlotte are taking care of that," Jasper assured her. He gritted his teeth as I screamed. It took time, a full minute perhaps more, for him calm down. "A house in Alaska, miles away from any humans. I know Bella doesn't want to go to Alaska but this is the safest place for a newborn."

I wanted to tell him that I would be fine with Alaska. That as long as I was with Tanya, and not able to hurt anyone, I would be happy.

"They'll also need to get ahold of some blood," Alice reminded Jasper. "By the time we are done here we'll be out."

"Darlin', Peter and Charlotte have dealt with newborns before," Jasper pointed out. "They know what they're doing."

"I know. I'm just…"

"Worried about Bella," Jasper finished. "I know Alice. She'll be okay. She's handling this better than most people when they're turned."

"Most people don't have you when they're turned," Alice said. Her voice was right beside me.

Jasper tightened his grip on my hand. "It's okay Bella," he whispered. Most of the pain disappeared. I could still feel my skin burning but at the same time I could think clearly. I just couldn't speak, or open my eyes.

"I'm here Bella. I'm right here," Tanya whispered kissing my cheek.

It hurt knowing I would never see my dad again but this was for the best. Ever since I moved to Forks, I had done nothing but lie to him. It was better this way. He would get more peace now than he ever did when I was alive.

"When does Charlie learn about Bella's death?" Tanya asked

"Sam is going to come to the house tomorrow after his trip and tell him," Alice answered. There was no way she saw that. She couldn't see the wolves.

"How—" Tanya started and then stopped. "Never mind. You can't see that."

"He'll be okay," Alice said in an attempt to assure her. Tanya must not be convinced. "I can't see everything but I do see that."

Good. I'm glad Charlie was going to be okay. I was worried about that. I wasn't sure why this was being brought up but I was sure at least part of it was for my benefit. Then again, since I was Tanya's mate, she would care about my father's wellbeing.

Someone had said something but I couldn't hear it as I screamed again. I could feel Jasper tense up beside me. I was making it harder on him.

"Don't feel guilty Bella," Jasper said. I felt him relax slightly. "I knew what I was getting into and I'll be fine. Thanks Alice."

I heard a crunching sound. It was strange since Jasper didn't eat or drink anything. Then it hit me, mid scream. It was a blood bag. Alice must have brought it for him.

"I don't want it Alice," Tanya said tightening her grip on my hand. She was upset because I was in pain.

"T-t-ta-take it," I gritted out. I refused to let her suffer because of me.

Tanya shifted her position so she had an empty hand. "Thanks Alice," I heard her say. The familiar crunching was heard and I knew the blood bag was empty. She pulled my head against her chest. "It'll be over soon," she whispered to me.

I wish she had explained exactly what soon meant. Was it one day, a few hours, or days? I didn't know. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't know. I don't know if I could handle burning for longer than a day. At least if I wasn't aware of time, I could pretend I wasn't burning for so long.

Sometime later there was a knock at the door. It was completely unnecessary. Jasper and Tanya were aware of everyone that came in and out of the house. "How is she?" Sam asked.

I wondered if the wolves were going to come by the house. I assumed no. With me so vulnerable I doubted Tanya would be willing to let many people near me.

"She's doing better than most," Jasper answered for Tanya. "I'm taking away most of her pain. Normally when someone changes there's a lot more screaming and thrashing around involved."

"The eyes," Sam started. He must have seen Tanya and Jasper have red eyes.

"Blood bags," Tanya told him. "Alice has been providing us with blood bags. Jasper is using a lot of energy to keep Bella calm and I refuse to leave her side. The only thing keeping us going is human blood."

"No one was hurt?" Sam wanted to know. It seemed more like he had to ask.

"No one was hurt," Jasper promised.

"Good," Sam said. "The bodies have been disposed of. Bella's accident has been staged. The others… they're not thrilled about this. Jacob even went to the council."

I could feel both vampires tensing against me. "What did they say?" Tanya asked stiffly. It sounded like they were preparing for another fight.

"I sat with them. While they're not happy they understand. I explained that Bella was already bit," Sam continued. "You biting her simply sped up the process. I explained you're not a Cullen and not bound by the treaty. I also explained that you're my… friend."

I wish I was actually awake for that. I wanted to see Tanya's face at his declaration. Never before had a wolf announced friendship with a vampire. It was a shame we had to leave Forks now.

"Thank you, Sam," Tanya said. If his words affected her in any way it didn't show. "How are the wolves? Did any of them get hurt?"

"Paul and Embry have some broken ribs," Sam told him. "Jared had a broken arm. Jared is healed already and Paul and Embry are almost healed. Nothing permanent."

"Good, I'm glad they're okay," Tanya said.

"When do you leave?" Sam asked.

"When she wakes up," Tanya answered. I swear she was doing this on purpose. "Possibly tomorrow. We don't know for sure. Alice can't see it yet."

"Good luck Tanya," Sam said. "I hope everything goes well for you and Bella."

"Thank you, Sam, for everything," Tanya said, stroking my hair. "I know it's a lot ask but can you watch over Charlie for Bella?"

"Of course, Tanya," Sam said. "We will take care of him. I promise. I should go. I have to run some errands in town."

"Good luck Sam," Tanya said.

Sam must have left since I didn't hear any other talking. No one else came into the room to talk to Tanya or Jasper. Without the distraction of other people, the pain became worse, even with Jasper's efforts.

Time had passed but I wasn't sure how much. All I knew was the pain was getting worse. My limbs felt better. I could actually move them now. It seemed all pain, the fire racing through my veins, was moving toward my heart. Did that mean this was almost over? All that was left was to stop my heart?

"It's almost over Bella," Tanya promised. "It's almost over."

Something cold and wet was placed on my forehead. "It's just Tanya's hand," Jasper said, feeling my panic. "You're sweating a lot. We're just trying to keep you cool."

I relaxed slightly as Tanya moved her hand over my face. I sighed. Her touch was comforting. I wasn't sure it was the cool skin or the mating bond that made her so comfortable right now.

The more time that passed the more painful my chest was becoming. The fire that spread across my body was now localized in my heart and it more painful than anything I've ever experienced. I couldn't stop the screams that came out.

Normally I could hold back some screams, because I didn't want Tanya to suffer because of me. But now, now there was nothing I could do. I wish there was a way to save Tanya from this pain. Just because I had to suffer didn't mean she needed to as well. But I knew she would leave me. After all this time I was finally confident she would never abandon me, no matter how much she suffered in the process.

I clawed at my chest as the pain grew more and more intense. I begged for them to kill me, to end this pain. I couldn't handle the fire in my chest. Hands were clamped around by wrists, keeping me from doing any damage.

"Jasper, do something," Tanya hissed. It was her hands on my wrists. I couldn't see it but I could tell.

"I'm trying," Jasper snarled. He was holding my legs as I thrashed around on the bed. "She's nearing the end of the change. You can hear it. The venom is in her heart. I don't think I can do anything to help."

Tanya growled in frustration. "It's almost over Bella," she whispered. "You're so close."

I wasn't sure how long I thrashed around on the bed. I didn't feel tired. I could be here for hours and not notice. The pain became more and more intense. I felt like my heart was going to explode. In a way it did. Just when I thought the pain couldn't get any worse it was suddenly gone.

I felt nothing. No pain, no fire, nothing. I could move but I chose not to. The change was over. I was officially a vampire. I could hear everything around me. Not that there was much to hear. Neither Jasper, nor Tanya, were breathing beside me. They let go of me and waited.

I could hear movement downstairs; in the kitchen I think it was. I heard something open, a cabinet or the fridge I couldn't tell. Probably the fridge. I imagine that's where they would store the blood.

"Bella," Tanya called softly.

I tensed up. My muscles locked into place and I was a statue. The sound was so familiar, yet so foreign.

"Bella, love," Tanya said again. "It's okay. Open your eyes."

It took only seconds to process her words, to process her voice. It was Tanya, my mate. The pull she mentioned was there but not as strong seeing as I had yet to open my eyes and see her.

"Come on Bella," Tanya said.

"Give her a minute," Jasper said. "She's confused."

Another voice, a male, Jasper. My friend, my brother. He was always there to protect me, other than that one day that we don't talk about anymore.

I took several unnecessary breaths. This was it. The moment of truth. The moment I opened my eyes my new life began. Was I ready? It didn't really matter. This was the beginning.

I opened my eyes and stared into the red eyes of my mate, Tanya.


End file.
